Crime Does Not....

I teach first grade.
In reading class,
I teach that there are
a number of ways to figure out what a word is;
two choices are
sounding it out (phonics)
and putting in what makes sense (context clues).
Most kids use a combination of approaches as needed.

I was leading two groups in reading Aliki's Feelings.
The page was about
the verbal consequences of flying a paper airplane in class.
The teacher's words were in capitals,
the boy's thoughts were in lower case letters*,
and a commenting bird's interpretation of feelings were in italics.
At the end of the page,
the bird's final comment is
"Crime does not pay,"
but each time the child read
"Crime does not play."

I guess the knowing the result of classroom misdemeanors
outweighed the phonics in this case.
Kids are so funny.

S.

*Did you know that lower case letters
were kept in the bottom drawer
at the Oxford print shop?
Thus "upper case" and "lower case."
I love trivia.

Mayday! Mayday!

The first day of May has been interesting.

I think I saw a badger on the way to school.
Do we have badgers around here?

The marsh marigolds and skunk cabbage
that I admired in the meadow yesterday
had been shrivelled by frost overnight.

I stopped to tell bridge construction workers
to watch for arrowheads.
My grandparents owned that property sixty-five years ago,
and found arrowheads while working in the garden.

During morning bus duty,
I asked a kindergartener to put his lunch money in his backpack.
He complied,
then made his hand into a gun and shot me.

Diane Brewer challenged me to make her laugh today,
so during the announcements,
I said, "Good morning Juniata. This is Mrs. Brewer...."
Her kids looked at her and said, "That's not you."
Bright kids, those.

We began the day with a fire drill,
and soon after, the rain began.
We had to deliver May baskets to our indoor friends
rather than visiting the neighborhood.
The comment again this year was
"This is like 'ding dong ditch!'"
Since we couldn't get outside for dandelions and crabapple blossoms,
we added Hershey kisses.
There's no great loss without some small gain....

At the end of the day,
my class left to go to their dismissal rooms
and I wanted to use the time to "hot synch" my palm pilot,
but I couldn't remember how.
Technology vs the fiftysomething brain,
not pretty.
When I went to ask Christina,
the hall was jammed with parents and siblings
picking up students in a new location
due to hoagie deliveries in the gym.
Organized chaos.
Half a minute later,
the fire alarm went off.
In that dismissal crowd, a mom had been
holding a two-year-old too close to the alarm box.
Who now is responsible
for the three hundred dollar false alarm fine?

I stopped at a Home Camp ditch
to dig some marsh marigolds for transplanting.
The four foot shovel handle almost disappeared into the muck,
amazing!
and pulling it out covered quite a bit of me with mud,
but the flowers are exquisite.

The weather was warm enough to
finally cut my mom's hair outside
to avoid a mess.
She squirmed like a preschooler.
Good thing she didn't pay for that haircut!

Finally home!
My throat hurts.

Trying to step over the invisible garage door sensor
while carrying hairclippers
and books
and groceries
and school bag
and flowers,
and stuff in general,
the handle on a basket snapped
and an antique milk bottle
that was bound for the historical society
shattered all over the driveway.

I swept it up
and sliced my finger.

Den arrived soon after
and volunteered to make supper.
Bless you, Denny.

Now, after bandaids
and pork chops
and Airborne
and soaking muddy clothes
and listening ears
and a backscratch
and Survivor
and the rest of the bag of espresso chocolate chip cookies,
I'm feeling much better.

May there be relatively few "Maydays!" in your May.

Sue

Malaria

Last Saturday afternoon was spent sigh grocery shopping.
When I returned home, Den said, "Paul called."
"Oh? What did he say?"
"He said that Katrina had a positive malaria test,
and they are travelling to a bigger hospital for treatment.
He wanted me to call him back,
but I didn't know how. *
I told him we'd call tomorrow at 11:00."

A Houghton student had malaria this semester.
He had two parasites/200, and was very sick for days.
Kat's count was fifteen parasites/200.

My mind went into overdrive;
Katrina is pregnant, due in early October.
I called the Blue Cross Information Line
and asked about malaria during pregnancy.
"...possibilities include death of the mother,
birth defects, premature birth, stillborn."
I called some friends who are gifted in prayer,
and put Kat's name on some local prayer chains.
The older I get, the more I realize
-- my control is mostly illusion.
-- prayer is often the only option.
-- there is great power in prayer.

The earth continued turning.
Daylight came over Asia, where Kat's family was praying,
over Africa, where Paul and Kat's friends were praying,
over America, where friends were praying.
The church was at work.

We left Sunday School a bit early to make that 11:00 call.
Paul told us that Kat's fever was gone,
and that she's feeling better all the time.
Later in the week,
he said that Kat has had two more malaria tests,
both negative.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow!

Sue

* Similar to "I can't come back! I don't know how it works!" Name that movie.

Spring Thoughts of Grandma Maud

Today was a beautiful early spring day,
sunny,
approaching fifty degrees.
I thought of my grandma, Maud Rensel.
She was a superb gardener;
her table was usually topped
with an artistic display of flowers.

During the early spring,
if budding forsythia branches are placed in water
and put in a warm place,
they'll bloom early and put on a lovely yellow display.
As I went to one of our budding forsythia bushes
and clipped a number of wands,
I thought of Maud.
When I took her graceful lead crystal vase
directly from the hot dishwasher,
I thought of Maud
...and as filled the vase with water
and heard a telltale "ping" as it cracked,
a word came to mind,
and, again, I thought of Maud.

March Waiting

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
Mike, I hope you're flattered....
Some March thoughts:

1. March is the second advent--
waiting for God to display his new creation once again.
So far, we've seen robins, geese, a moseying skunk,
and a roadkill bunny.
Now we're watching for snowdrops in bloom,
coltsfoot,
and porcupines, raccoons, and possum.

2. Denny and his class tuned in daily for Iditarod updates,
and mushed fantasy dog teams over playground snowbanks.
The weather channel guy says diphtheria;
the book I read gave the pronunciation as diphtheria.
Are both correct?

3. Cleaning bookshelves is never as easy as it seems.
There's always a pile
that doesn't fit with the new organizational scheme,
maps that siphon away time,
xeroxed pages of jokes and stories.
Throw away?
I toss most of them back on the shelf.

4. Some weeks are jammed.
Holy week also contained St Patrick's Day
(dress as a leprechaun and throw green and gold glitter on kids' heads),
the official first day of spring
(dress as Mother Nature and bonk kids with flowers while explaining the equinox),
and two days of parent-teacher conferences,
all in four days.

5. Why, all of a sudden,
am I getting weird blog comments from people I don't know?
I ticked a few boxes to try to stop them,
and now I'm unsure whether any comments can get through.
Pictures have also been more of a pain than usual.
It's frustrating to be only slightly computer literate.
And why does this computer keep barking at me?

6. I've sucked thousands of ladybugs from windows in the last few weeks.
I do prefer them to the gypsy moths they were imported to fight, but
where have they been hiding?
What have they been eating?
What percentage of them have escaped from the vacuum cleaner?
If I refuse to suck any more of them,
will there be any biological repercussions?

7. Den made maple syrup at one of the county historical sites.
It's been a good year for sap.

8. I have been a Survivor fan for the last few seasons,
but I'm disgusted at the people who are volunteering/pleading to leave.
I think Den would be a terrific contestant for Survivor,
but he's not interested.

9. Den took the snowblower off the John Deere on Friday,
as the forecast was for an inch or two.
We woke on Saturday to a foot of new snow.
We now can confirm that it does take longer to shovel by hand.

10. Easter memories include
travelling to Houghton
without keeping a close eye on the backseat--
we had to make an abrupt stop in Bradford
for Luke to unload a chocolate bunny,
the eggs no one finds til months later,
pickled eggs,
and the resurrection story in swahili.
I am grateful to be reminded of Jesus's resurrection victory
and his free gift of grace.
He is risen indeed! Hallelujah!

Spring is Here. Right.

I know spring officially begins at the spring equinox.

But, for a number of years now,

we have celebrated March 1st as the first day of spring.

There are a number of reasons for this:

• If summer vacation is traditionally June, July, and August, then it follows that spring is March, April, and May.
• The first of the month is a more concise system for us OCD types.
• I have difficulty remembering whether the equinox is March 20th, 21st, or 22nd.
• The week containing March 1st is often the week that robins and bluebirds return, shivering.
• October is literally the eighth month, implying that the year starts in March.

If the robins come back this week, they're crazy;

March 2008 entered as a major snowstorm.

Mother Nature is still wearing 10 inch boots.

S.

PS. The day after I posted this, Den heard a robin in Clearfield, and tonight one flew over the house while Den was in the hot tub. Crazy.

Six Word Memoirs

You know that place between sleeping and waking,
that place where J.M.Barrie says fairies exist?
That's where my squirrel is busiest.
Last year, he wrote a riddle for everyone in my building
in about 45 minutes.
This morning, he was fascinated
by the concept behind the book
Not Quite What I Was Planning
in which people have written six word memoirs
(look here and here).
Stephen Colbert's, for example, is
"Well, I thought it was funny."

The squirrel tried his hand
(or is it his paw?)
at the challenge:

Laughed loudly and often-- sorry, family!

I did my best-- perhaps not.

Den is my very best part.

Took the big jump-- great fun!

Boiled life into phrases and scribbles.

Grace is an amazing idea. Thanks.


Maybe I should go back to sleep....

S.