Meanwhile in Phoenix,

neighbors decorate with Olaf, palms and hammock.

love and sushi

Love makes people do strange things.

On occasion, I have eaten sushi.  I must have mentioned this to Anderson, because last week he took me on a surprise date to the local sushi bar.

Those of you who know Anderson may understand the gravity of this event.  You may have heard him discourse upon the eating habits of sea creatures like shrimp and squid.  (He once made colorful and heated remarks on "bottom feeders" at a nice restaurant, and then noticed a couple from his mom's church at the next table.)  I've learned that if I order seafood, we should sit at a removed table and I shouldn't plan to share entrees.

Of course I was incredulous when we pulled up at a sushi bar.  Truly, the depths of marital sacrifice.

We were seated with menus.  At this point, I realized I had no idea how to order sushi.  My past experiences were with experts who ordered for me.  But I couldn't let Anderson know that.  I deliberated nonchalantly over the 6, 8, or 10-piece option and picked the smallest.

When I came back from the restroom, Anderson and the waiter had figured out we'd entirely ignored the real  20-item menu.  At this point I confessed that I'd never ordered sushi before and had no idea what I was doing.  The waiter recommended the "Sunburst."  It was an attractive name and it had cilantro, avocado, and citrus sauce.

The waiter brought our roll. It looked like Christmas.  I popped a slice in my mouth.  It tasted amazing.

At this point I realized that Andy was not okay with the fact that the meat on this particular roll was -- what was it? oh yes, octopus.  Also, he was not okay with the pink tentacles.  Furthermore, he had never intended to sample it in the first place. This took some overcoming, but after about ten minutes, he put it in his mouth.  And chewed.

....

For a couple minutes I seriously contemplated what to do if one's spouse throws up in a restaurant.  (1) Oh honey, I'm so sorry!  Here's a napkin, let me help you...  (2) HAHA!  I can't believe you just did that!  Oh don't worry waiter, this happens all the time...  (3) [Stare silently at the TV, pretending the person next to you, literally, does not exist.]

I didn't have to choose.  Let's just say that I was genuinely impressed that he tried it for my sake.  Next time, he may stick to the fish 'n' chips.

beyond Roosevelt Dam

(all that water!)

All in a day's grading:

What are the consequences of plagiarism?

"You could be ejected from school."

Write an original sentence that uses a direct object.

"My run-in with the 'cool' kids really affected my self of steam."

Write an original sentence that uses an appositive (identify the appositive in capital letters).

"The Long-Nosed Maker, WHO DESIGNED THE WOBBLING ATOM AND THE STELLAR SUPERGIANT, has vastly long patience when a mere human dares to contend with His intricate and colossal plan."

home

In some ways, it seems like we just arrived in Arizona.  In other ways, we've been here for years.

acclimation

I was in Colorado for the weekend, and apparently the only thing that inspired me enough to get my camera out was this truck in our hotel parking lot.  Like I'd never seen a cow head before.

Behind it was a trailer with enough brown and pink remnants to identity that these were, indeed, buffalo.

I'd planned take lots of pictures and fill up on autumn colors, but was too early in the season.  Just greens.  Not that I was complaining about that.  The grass looked especially, unnaturally green.  Or had I acclimated to desert colors that quickly?

I went running in the morning and froze my limbs off in the 60-degree weather.  Why didn't I bring pants and sweatshirt?

We are at the end of swimming season here in Arizona.  Ironically, the end of September signals the end of swimming in Minnesota too.  This must mean that swimming is in fact not dependent on temperature but on month.  We are running steady highs of 100 here, and indeed, it is too cold to comfortably enjoy the pool.

all in a day's work at Goldfield Ghost Town

You probably can't tell that the bug on top is eating a bee.

first grad school assignment

You see, Children, learning your ABC's is very important.

This was for Hebrew.

Don't worry, we're getting our money's worth, the same week we also had to memorize (for the quiz):

-- the Hebrew alphabet, including the six letters with alternate forms, the letters that may or may not take a Daghesh Lene, the four gutturals, and the letter that sometimes is a guttural
-- the elaborate system of dots used to indicate vowel sounds (because the Hebrew alphabet doesn't have vowels)
-- the consonants that can sometimes be used as vowels, depending on what comes before them

And this week we memorized all the noun endings, plus fifty vocab words.

The peaks of the Estrella Mountains at dawn, never mind the record-breaking midday temps:

Our host family has three beagles.  Strangely, they frequent the outdoors in the afternoons, often lying directly in the sun.

scorpion hunting

We went on our first scorpion hunt!

Scorpions glow in the dark when you shine black light on them, because of a substance in their exoskeleton.  Ranger Tippy said that bugs can see ultraviolet light, which makes them attracted to scorpions.  The scorpions glow like a nightlight, and when the bugs come near, the scorpions can snatch them and eat them.

This was also the weekend my college roommate Katie happened to visit.  We had forgotten to tell her about the night scorpion hunt, so she didn't know to pack shoes.  We didn't really want her hunting in sandals so Andy offered her his tennis shoes and our host dad offered her his military combat boots.  We decided that the combat boots had more of a fashion flair (especially with jean shorts) but that the tennis shoes were less likely to flop around.

Off we went at 8:00 p.m.!  Most of the hunters were little kids, and Ranger Tippy made sure they stayed on the path.   (Scorpion bites in this area are only lethal if you are under 65 pounds and if it's from a little scorpion; the little scorpions are more poisonous.)

We were trying to beat our record of 23 scorpions in one hunt.  We all crowded around when we spotted the first one and watched it squiggle around in the dust.  We were pretty excited about the prospects but we only ended up finding 13.  Anderson found one of them, and thank goodness I found one a while later (so we were equal).

This event helped assuage trepidation of scorpions felt by someone in the family.  It showed that scorpions are not swarming the house in ranks, let alone the desert.  We can now take our sidewalk strolls in the dark without fear of scorpions, never mind the beetles scuttling all over the place in various shapes and sizes.  They don't bother us anymore.

First night coming into the Valley of the Sun

Caroline and the bear

I was waiting and waiting to see bears this week  in Colorado.

The cabin owner said we should look out for them, so I was sure we would see them.

Andy warned me about the bears the night we got to Colorado.  I was not actually excited at first.  This is no fear founded on experience, but I am actually afraid of bears.  I think the only time I was ever near one in the wild, my grandma sighted it, and I was so scared I turned around and ran and didn't even see the bear.

Darkness settled in around the cabin.  I realized, a bear could easily clamber up on the deck and come right in through the screen doors.  So, we had better shut the doors.

Then I realized, what's to stop a bear from coming in right through the window?  Bears could smash a glass pane with a swipe of the paw.  Probably all the creakings and rustlings around the house were bears waiting to come in.

Long story short, we made it through the night.

The next morning, I decided to go out for a run.

As soon as I saw the three deer prancing around in the front yard, I remembered about bears.  At first I almost decided not to go outside.  Then I realized, the deer were probably a safe sign.  (Deer wouldn't want to be anywhere near where the bears are.)

Long story short, I made it back safely.

The whole week I kept looking for bears, but (long story short), I didn't spot a single one.

I realized I was actually going to be disappointed if I didn't see a bear.  But by the end of the week, I had almost given up hope.

Until the very last morning...

BEAR ON DECK!

historic schoolhouse

Pagosa Springs, CO.

I could teach here...maybe.

Now kids, quit looking out the window!

front porch

We don't generally keep roses on our porches, or anywhere else, in Nebraska.  They were put there because the picture gives a very pleasant impression to other people, and, as it nicely turns out, to the picture-taker too.

However, might we all agree that front porches have something of the idyllic about them?

old Nebraska

Incidentally, I learned why the sky is blue: Rayleigh scattering.  The sunlight hits tiny particles (< 0.1 micron) in Earth's atmosphere.  At this size, blue light scatters most.  When the sun seems lower to Earth's edge, it passes through more atmosphere and bigger particles, which makes other colors scatter more -- red, orange, sunset.

More or less.

Walter Lewin at MIT, 30 minutes in:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a0FbQdH3dY
(thanks to student parent)

desert pilgrimage - first leg

Our neighbor gave us two baby aloe plants as a final going-away present.  Anderson was careful to hold them up to the window during the car trip to Nebraska so they could get light.  We're going to think of good names for them.

Goodbye, Farm!

Goodbye, Lake Amelia!

We made it to Nebraska, first leg of pilgrimage south.  Great fun unloading harp from car at 2:00 a.m. (no picture).

name it

Bean...jerky?  crisps?  What do you think?

packing for the move

Does it fit?  Does it fit?

IT DOES!

a good deal

Anderson is always on the lookout for a good deal.  When we were on a date one time, we calculated the price per square inch of the 12-inch versus the 18-inch pizza, so we could get the better deal.  Who knows what the waitress thought of our napkin scribbles.  Anyways, per usual he was on the lookout the day I asked him about black beans.

"Anderson is there anything you want from the co-op when I order today?"
"How about some black beans."

I send him the link.

Andy:  I feel like 5 lbs isn’t that much…Would you be ok getting the 25 lb bag?

Caroline [tactfully]:  ​We sure could.  Maybe two smaller bags would be better, though?  25 lbs is a lot to use before Arizona..

Andy:  … In my mind, I see us making black bean burgers all summer long… I may be deceived though… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH… What if I just want to see what a 25lb bag looks like? Is that reason enough?

Black Bean Soup

Black Bean Hamburger Buns

 

Black Bean Burger

Bedtime Stories With Black Beans:

Unfortunately I did not get a picture of Black Bean Pancakes.  Maybe there will be another time.  Or maybe not.

That's all so far folks!

A Rusty Weathervane

Get your pen and paper ready!  You are going to write a poem.

Instructions:

1.  The poem will consist of 2 couplets (rhyming pairs of lines).  Rhymes may be imperfect.

2.  Every word in the poem must count.  If you have "the" or "a" in there, you'd better be able to explain why.  Efficiency is everything.

3. You will have 15 minutes.

4. The topic of the poem:  "A Rusty Weathervane" (selected at random from Creative Writing Toolbox)

This is the project Anderson and I did this morning.  in 15 minutes he came up seven and I came up with one.

(some of) Anderson's:

A Rusty Weathervane

Dust

Must

Blow

Bill

A Rusty Weathervane

Iron oxide clad,

The stoic chicken had

Pointed its bill south

To keep warm its frozen mouth.

Caroline's:

A Rusty Weathervane

Going, going, gone! Still spinning,

Sold! - that baccy geezer, grinning.

Once fortune's bronze-topped finish,

Now junked (yet mystic) cynic.

Now YOU can write your own and submit it!

totes holding a python baby

The Stomach of Doom

Short story by one of my students, based on a true story:

The Stomach of Doom

       It seemed like a normal day for the kids, but they did not know what was coming. BOOM BOOM BOOM.  

“What is that?” asked Katrina.

“I do not know,” said Bailey.

“I thought earthquakes can’t happen here?” asked Lily.

“They can’t!” said Trevor.

 “I thought they could,” said Blake.

“UGGGHHHH!” growled Makayla.

 “I am going to cry,” said Lily.

“Be brave,” said Katrina.

“Where is the bathroom?” asked Lily.

“If I were you, I would not leave,” said Bailey.

“But I have to go,” said Lily.

“Then go risk your life,” said Blake.

“We have to hide,” said Katrina.

“Agreed,” said Makayla.

“Let’s go to the basement,” said Bailey.

“No, they know we will always go down there if there is something wrong,” said Makayla.

“True,” said Lily.

BOOM,BOOM, BOOM!

“It is coming closer,” said Blake.

“Oh thank goodness the parents are here,” said Trevor.

“Wait, where are they going?” asked Bailey.

“They must’ve heard the noise too,” said Makayla.

“Well then, I am not baking my dad brownies tonight,” said Lily.

“Wait, we are forgetting someone,” said Katrina.

“Mrs. Clare,” said Blake.

“OHHHHHH,” said the whole class.

“Is it possible that the noise is her STOMACH?” asked Makayla.

“OHHHHH,” said the whole class again.

“I feel really dumb that we did not know that was her,” said Bailey.

“Well, let’s get her some breakfast,” said Katrina.

“Now I feel great,” said Ms. Clare.

“So now we can do MATH,” said Ms. Clare.

“Noooooo,” said the whole class.

“A lesson for the day: always feed your teacher,” said Makayla.

Also, who knew, but earthquakes do happen in Minnesota.  My student brought me a link and said we're along a fault line:

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/states/events/1975_07_09.php

lake in late-April

I am endlessly fascinated with taking pictures of our lake during its various seasons.

Frozen

Sheepishly, I like the Disney film Frozen.  I saw it for the first time in a cabin in the middle-of-nowhere-Mongolia, which gives Disney a different feeling than American living-room-and-popcorn.  Plus, it opens with a bunch of blond Scandinavian dudes working outdoors and singing well, which is epic.

So our all-school field trip happened to be a day-trip to see a performance of Frozen by Disney on Ice, at the Target Center in Minneapolis.  Frozen on ice skates?  That's fitting.

My class and I tried freehand drawings of Elsa.  Here's mine.  (Okay, we used a YouTube tutorial, but it still turned out decent for freehand.)  I wanted to keep it but we ended up using it as a thank-you card to the people from the bank who gave us the field trip.

aging

"Grandma!"  says my student to me this morning.  Well, that's a first.

"You look...dead."  says another student this afternoon, upon seeing a photo of me in a choir concert.

I seem to be aging.

melt

I am extremely happy!  The ice has finally melted!

I did not realize that the ice can pile up on the shore when the wind blows it and it melts.  (It looked more impressive in real life.)

taking it slow

Most mornings I rush through the door.  This morning I was talking to a student, so I must have opened the door in slow motion.  I walked through the doorway.  From the end of the hall I heard a burst of exasperation and heartbreak:  "Are you SERIOUS??!"

There it sat, teetering on the edge -- unfallen.  HA!  My student was crestfallen.  His one chance to douse Mrs. Clare had epically failed.  He had so carefully contrived his plot.  He had even got his dad to take him to school extra early -- they even had to wait for the secretary to come open up.

Sister came into the hall to investigate the commotion and the quickly-gathering crowd.  She did not look amused.  I told her I had it coming to me.

He got the desk though.

I packed it all up in bag.  It was the good kind of toilet paper.  I told him it would be put to good use.  He thinks I'm fooling.

top music hits

I asked my students what music they would like to listen to during math time.  "Creepy organ!  Creepy organ!" they begged.  Meaning, Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

Seriously?  Organ is generally not my thing, and specifically not in that 9-minute piece.  (Apologies, Bach.)

But...the public will demand their classical organ.

up-and-coming poets

Once in a while our spelling exercise asks the students to write a poem using some of their spelling words.  The tales they spin to incorporate the required words can end up being quite...fanciful.  And abstract.

The audience clapped for Carrie Underwood.
The announcer's prediction was that they would.
Carrie's songs were so incredible,
That the seats in the back section of the concert weren't dreadable.

We are going to inject and insect,
It was so flexible it was incredible.
We're going to introduce the reduce fat,
A section of education.

The council enjoyed the desserts.
The cookies that Megan sent were sweet.
They were probably not the best for our waist.
We will send our thank you on blue stationery.

I got a friend named Bobby, he is an insect.
He got a bad infection.  I had to inject a needle into him.
This had no benefit to me.
This had no credit to him.

cows

Student:  "You never heard any cussing growing up?"

(Somehow we were discussing the topic of swearing.)

Me:  "Nope."

Student, matter-of-fact, with very high eyebrows:  "Wull I guess your dad never got stepped on by a cow or anything."

Me, suddenly remembering something distinct:  "Well, come to think of it, the closest I ever heard my dad come to that was when he was trying to milk a cow."

all the British around here

So, we totally had British-style "low tea" the other morning before lunch.

Menu:

- The classic British biscuits *ahem*(cookies) appetizingly trademarked Digestives
- Chamomile tea for our caffeine-sensitive students (and teachers)
- A large supply of coffee creamer and sugar for doctoring the chamomile

Supplied and served by the local priest.

my new look

I went snow tubing with my students.  One step further toward being all things Minnesotan and Scandinavian.

no more shadows!

Yesterday, in true fashion, my class celebrated Groundhogs Day.  I thought their posters were interesting.

Version #1:  "I'm in love."

Version #2:  Overbearing snowman.  ("Not if I can help it.")

Version #3:  Groundhog season, opening day for Cupid.

And, true to the prediction, we are having a very determined snowfall this afternoon:

Look, it's a tree-o (...sorry).

an all-consuming mission

This Advent season my life was utterly consumed last month (or so it seemed) with directing our school's Christmas pageant, which was, I learned this fall, part of the job description of the fifth/sixth grade teacher.

Ah-ha.  I have never directed a play before.  But first I had to pick it.  After perusing the selections at my disposal (i.e., rifling through the old plays in the back closet), I picked "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever." With a name like that, how could you go wrong, I surmised.

If you've read the play or the book, you know that it is a comedy that really can't go wrong.  Three of my students had the lead roles as the Herdmans, "the worst kids in the world."  They outfitted themselves with leather jackets, backwards-baseball caps, and sunglasses.   I wish I could post pictures. They looked (and acted) like a combination of the mafia and the three stooges.  They did a fantastic job.

And I got to the play harp, which was cool.

So long, Advent!