Its Over!

Good Evening, Don,

So sorry it has been almost three weeks since I last wrote. We came up to the end of the quarter, had finals, a major report was due that ended up over 15 pages long, a curriculum re-write that had to be done, changes to the syllabi and getting the first week photocopied and electronically transferred  before the quarter was over took precedence over absolutely everything. Today, the quarter is over, we have graduated well over 120 students this morning – I am now officially on vacation. Okay, as much as I can vacation – I'm sure I'll be doing something along the line to get ready for the next quarter that starts in January.  

I find graduation to be rather bitter sweet – I remember the names, but the people going across the stage to get their diplomas are not the same people I had in class way back in the day. It is good that they are moving on. I enjoyed the speaker – she didn't come off as a know it all. Her advice to the graduates was to take risks, be nice, work hard – just because you have a degree doesn't mean you get the job- you have to earn it. I especially liked the "be nice".  Fitting words for this day and age.

My world has suddenly expanded from concentrated focused effort to WOW! There's a world beyond the end of my desk! OH NO! One week to Christmas! Shopping?! Cards?! Family!? Where will everyone be for Christmas and what do I need to do?! Semi-panic... we did the Christmas shopping yesterday before the weekend before Christmas. In many ways I'm very lucky. My better half knows what he wants and just orders it from Amazon. All I have to do is meet the delivery person at the door, take it and wrap it. Sure does cut down on wondering what to get him that he won't return. The rest of the family is pretty easy – they send a list, I pick 2 off of it and away I go! Now I need to concentrate on wrapping.

Our son and daughter-in-law decided to treat their son (just over 2 years old) to Santa Claus and snow so they flew back from tropical China (where they teach) last week and arrived just in time for the blizzard. I'd found real boots for our grandson along with snow pants and mittens so he was ready for the snow. Getting the boots on became a main event – little kids sure can curl their toes so their feet don't fit in the boots! Once they were on, he had to figure out how to walk again! Big heavy clumpy things hanging off his legs made walking a new experience. But once he got it, he and I walked everywhere, through every drift he could find. And then he discovered he could eat the snow. Instant cold trickling down the throat seemed to delight him to no end! Every time I turned around he had a new bunch of snow that he was licking off his mittens. And the smile on his face was the image of pure satisfaction.  There is a sense of 'living in the present" that little kids have that I sometimes envy.

My latest interests have been hydroponics. Actually acquaponics. I read an article about 9 companies in Iowa raising salt water shrimp. They are supplying up to 250,000 shrimp a month from landlocked Iowa. There is even a company here in Denver that is now raising shrimp! I'm hoping that after the hoopla of the holidays settles down I can go visit. As a vegetarian who eats fish, I'm really excited about acquafarming – and I'm really hopeful that the acqua farmers treat their fish more responsibly than the factory farms treat their cows, chickens and pigs. That is one reason I became a vegetarian.

Much to my surprise, the natural health food store was selling acquaponic units today at half price so I picked one up. Not sure where we'll put it because it has to have sun for the plants but not shining into the fish tank, and the temperature has to be 70 – 80 degrees for the fish. But it is an adventure! I have lots to learn – but hey! That's what vacations are for!

I was fortunate enough to have sometime between everything else to edit a story written by a lady in New York for a contest about addictions. Powerful story! The conflict between treating an addict with tough love and the realization they are on the path that will destroy their lives and there is nothing you can do to stop it is heart wrenching – do you enable so you know when the addict literally dies? Or do you send them out and spend the rest of your life wondering which gutter they died in? This is the subject of a parent's (s') nightmare.

I've seen the movies on your list – can't say that I understand why Animal House and Annie Hall are even in the top 50 – and why Ferris Bueller's Day Off  isn't. It is, like you said, "What are you thinking?"  I had to laugh when you talked about VHS and VCRs - we pulled out an old VHS tape last night and watched Die Hard 2. We were amazed that our VHS machine still worked and that the tape didn't break in the middle!

Your Twainism hit the spot: "Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often."

I'm not sure about the "not nearly as often" part. In the classroom, I see the actions long before I hear the words.  I have become very aware that I can almost always tell what a student is like based on their actions – rarely do their words and actions have the same meaning.

By the next writing I'll have returned to the land of the real and happening! Hope you all have a great Christmas, a magnificent holiday, a peaceful time ... however you honor this time of year – I wish you all well and joy.

Carolyn 

Images from google images:

Christmas tree retrieved from Hue Christmas - Apps for Hueapps4hue.com

Santa retrieved from Grand theft auto vice city gta #70171577-themes.com