Ready for . . .

. . . for Christmas

Today felt all twinkly and certainly Christmasy! I think the photo sort of captures that thought. Taking pictures of decorated houses is tricky (at least for me with my camera). If it is not dark enough, the photo looks like daytime. If it is too dark the photo looks like heck! Then to top it off, if the residents wander outside to see me and the camera, I feel like I'm stealing something that doesn't belong to me. But my internal voice says, "Hey, they decorated it for people to come look. Take the picture!" So I do.

I hope I'm not the only one who has an internal voice that talks to her. So this lovely decorated home is my choice for today; it was seconded by Mr. Fun.

I do have one thought about this decorated house -- I bet they wish the city would let them remove that non-palm tree near the curb in their front yard. In California we have this tradition that every property must have a tree in front near the street and the local authorities usually dictate what type of tree it must be. This street obviously didn't get elected to have palm trees at the curb.

This has been a very good day. The only thing that would make the day better now that I am home would be a cup of wassail and some homemade holiday cookies. Doesn't that sound fattening and oh so satisfying. I could eat an entire bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough right now.

Today was my last Thursday class, except for a brief meeting next Thursday to collect their "final" (which is quite mild in comparsion to other semester projects). So after they completed the Scantron quiz and it was scored by the machine, I returned it to them so they could see the damage. They either fainted or threw their pompoms across the room as they cheered. It was nothing more than a proofreading quiz straight out of their grammar, punctuation, usage handbook. Then I returned the last written project--the in-class essay from last week--we then had 10 precious minutes left. So . . .

. . . So I told them that spending a semester with them had been my privilege; I commended them on their positive attitudes and their desire to learn. I commented on my delight as I watched them form bonds of friendship and camaraderie. Saying goodbye to a group of quality people is always the hardest thing for me (don't get me wrong--I'm looking forward to the semester ending), but it is such an awesome experience to watch people over the span of 16 weeks acknowledge their own potential and the realization that education can change their lives. I reiterated to them that it's a demanding class and I'm an instructor with high standards (we all agreed that we would not want a physician, engineer, politician, or an indian chief who had begged a grade and not really earned a degree). I told them that this semester Thursdays have been a bright spot in my teaching week. And then I said "Goodbye" and they were gone.

Sigh . . . pause . . . catch my breath.

In the afternoon, I attended the first ever (at our campus, now college) Library Advisory Council meeting. I think libraries are so very important and I look forward to being part of the leadership team.

Late afternoon was the College President's Christmas Party (which was catered with enough quality delicious food, it should have been called a dinner). We have a marvelous president and she has managed over the years to help us maintain a "family" atmosphere even though we have grown from a handful of instructors and office workers to large institution of administrators, faculty, staff, and over 10,000 students. The event did not lend itself to taking photos, otherwise you'd see the party. I did blip it last year.

Then right before posting my blip, I got to see the Waiting for "Superman" kids on the nightly national news. I stood in front of the TV laughing and crying and cheering. I hope the documentary helps America, the world, wake-up to the value of all children everywhere. Here's the link to the two short episodes from the newscast and I apologize that it starts with a 30 second ad. If someone on the other side of the world gets this link open, I'd be curious to know if you can view it.

So I'm extremely wordy tonight. My day has been big and wide and full and worth living. Then seeing all the comments left on last night's blip was the whipped cream on top of this day -- thank YOU.

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol