Last blue sky day ... for awhile!?

Head home late this afternoon...sharing some blue sky!

Palm Springs Postcard greetings!

Arrived in LA on Friday and drove the couple hours to Palm Springs ... enjoying warm sun and blue skies! View from condo...

Arleen and I went "back to college" on Saturday! Every weekend a street fair is held on campus - lots of shopping opportunites...

There was a Palm Springs Veterans' Day parade on Sunday afternoon...

Happy Halloween!

Everyone Needs a Smile!

Tahuya Saturday

Cathy's Remodel...

Kayakers- Jeff, Jenny and Friends...



Sunset from Shorebrook...

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Enjoy remembering what a special year you just had ...
may the next year bring more special memories!!

Salmon Days Last Saturday...

After Jerry got off work last Saturday afternoon we went into Issaquah for a couple of hours at Salmon Days. It was less crowded than usual, didn't rain, and was actually pretty much the same, with this one very cute exception...

"Postcard" from trip to Washington DC, Virginia, & Maryland!

Home from a wonderful trip to Washington DC with sister-in-law Cathy, and sister Judi, and a visit with niece Shannon and her husband Jim! The experience included not only blue sky and hot, sunny weather, but the inspiration and emotion of national monuments, memorials, and museums; as well as the sightseeing joy and excitement of Virginia wineries, Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park, Chesapeake Bay cruise, and an afternoon in the historic town of St. Michael's on eastern shore of Maryland.

Today's English Lesson...

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes,
But the plural of ox becomes oxen, not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
Yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice,
Yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.

If the plural of man is always called men,
Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I speak of my foot and show you my feet, And I give you a boot,
would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those,
Yet hat in the plural would never be hose,
And the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
But though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
But imagine the feminine: she, shis and shim!

Let's face it - English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.
We take English for granted,
but if we explore Its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly,
boxing rings are square,
and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend.
If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?
If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?

Sometimes I think all the folks who grew up speaking English should be committed to an Asylum for the Verbally Insane.

In what other language do people recite at a play and play at a recital?
We ship by truck but send cargo by ship.
We have noses that run and feet that smell.
We park in a driveway and drive in a parkway.
And how can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?

You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling It out, and in which an alarm goes off by going on. And, in closing, if Father is Pop, how come Mother's not Mop?

Tahuya Road Work (and BLUE sky)

Pictures from Monday/Tuesday morning walk - just past Summer Tide...

Paella & Wine Tasting

CAN you Believe it?

Architects and engineers compete to see whose team can build the most spectacular structure using little more than cans of food at Canstruction, the 13th annual New York City Design and Build competition.

Back From Texas Trip...

Lovely thunder clouds...



Lovely sunset from Dallas Fort Worth airport...


Fun at airport play area...


Cowboy & horses - Laredo airport

Wednesday Sunset, Morning Heron, and 2 Keepers!

The blessings of Tahuya time...

Back in the USA...home from Medellin!

A truly wonderful adventure!!! Sharing a peek at the week ... a sample from over 400 photos. There was not any food or water related "problems" in the whole group and we did not hear any gunfire. The "math work" we did with students and teachers was very much appreciated ... you can visit the school.
The math consultant group...including former Math Helping Corps co-worker Ann Clark and principal, Tom Romero!

My second graders ...enjoyed math from 8:30 - 11:30; snack and recess from 10 -10:30. A group of 6-10 teachers observed the lessons.

Lesson prep ...our hotel bathroom had the best lighting!

City views...

Part of the route from the 5000 ft. above sea level city of Medellin to the 8000 ft. level of school...

Every evening meant a wonderful dining experience ...one location was especially memorable for Corky!!! And yes ... we acquired parts for future clones - the waiter insisted we take a small bag with us!!!

More from Medellin, Columbia!!

This week has been both exhilarating and exhausting ! Up by about 5:30 each day ... take turns with roommates to be first in the shower ... that may mean hot water, unless everyone else is also taking showers ... we´ve joked about numbering off or team showers! Breakfast at our hotel, morning meeting about the day, and on the bus for 45 minutes up the winding hillsides to school. Armed guard opens the gate and the group heads out across the campus to our classrooms. Parents have paid a tuition to have their kids attend the 8:30 - 11:30 math camp and have high expectations about their kids learning only in English. Many of the parents speak fairly good English. The school is ïn transition from the expectation that ONLY English is allowed for both students and teachers on campus to the reality that the native language is critical at times to building understanding and meaning ...especially in math. We leave the school at 5 or 5:30 and do some touring, sight seeing, shopping, and dinner usually by 7:30 or 8PM ... and our group usually enters an empty restaurant, that fills up by 9:30 ... the dinner hour is much later here. Back to hotel by the same bus that picks us up in the morning ... in bed by 10:30. There is construction everywhere ...done the same way as in Mexico ... somewhat primitive. Postcards don´t exist as there is very little tourism. Will share pictures next week, am not responding to your messages at this time ...signing off so the next person in line can contact the USA!!

Squeaker begins enjoying a week in Tahuya!

I checked Squeaker, Sr. Fidelis, and Sr. Philomena into the Shorebrook place for the week. We enjoyed sharing the phenomena of "zip lock omelets" before I had to leave for home! Hopefully they'll be able to enjoy some sun on the deck of the beach place. Oh yes - I was forced to take one of Leonard's Boysenberry Pies home with me - YUM!!!

No that's not a cabbage that Squeaker's holding ... it's one of Leonard's Kohlrabi!!




Leonard ... thanks for your delicious pie - each one seems better than the previous one!