I Think I'll Just Write a Book

I need to go back to school--within the next four years, that is. In continuing education speak, that means I need six hours of masters or higher credit to maintain my license in administration. I'm an old enough dog that my teaching license is a life license--as long as I have life, I have a license. Not so with administration--by the time I decided to go down that road, the rules had changed; actually, I think for the better. We need to keep pushing ourselves to learn new material in our chosen field. And even though my chosen field is no longer administration, I have an enormous soft spot for education. It's just pretty much who I am at heart. I learn--I teach. So, I think I'll just write a book. If I'm going to go back to school, I'm at the magical age that it's going to have to be worthwhile.

Writing the blogs has been a terrific exercise for me to get back into shape in playing with words and language. I've always enjoyed writing on different levels. At one time I even wrote a children's book and a very talented young man created some outstanding illustrations to further tell its story. And, as with most books, it was soundly rejected. I still have it; maybe someday I'll turn it into a virtual book. There are always options.

Ideas have been swimming about in my brain over the past couple of years in regard to the state of education. I don't want to research and write a book that complains and states the obvious. I want to research and write a book that will perhaps, in some small way, help change come about in a futuristic and positive way. More kids will be taught and taught well; more communities can claim their former life and vibrancy; teachers can get excited again about their craft. That's my hope.

So, tonight I started by scribbling some ideas down in my trusty tattered little book of thoughts. I think I have a plan. I also think I just gave myself a terrific challenge. That's what adventure is all about, right? Stay tuned...

The Last Pair of Hummingbirds

I'm sitting here on a picture-perfect September evening watching as the last pair of hummingbirds are doing  their acrobatics for their pleasure and certainly mine. I've watched as the numbers have dwindled down from eight at our height of the season and entertainment to this single pair. They have the same sprightliness about them, but the whole atmosphere is somewhat subdued. They're not flying nearly as much or chirping nearly as much as they do when the gang is all in attendance. I figure it's just a matter of time--probably days--until I walk out onto the deck and it will be motionless around the feeder. Ah, change...not always what we like, but inevitable.

Nevertheless, the same forces that cause the hummingbirds to fly to different locales this time of year are mighty refreshing to the human species. Sitting here writing, I could almost use a long-sleeved shirt; just about time to get out my trusty denim and then flannel shirts. Ah, change.

The days are certainly growing shorter as well. The luxury of sitting on the deck in the dusky hours between eight and nine and writing are now nearly an impossibility. When the daylight hours go away so much more quickly and show up in the mornings so much more slowly, it's difficult to get that last cup of tea scheduled in while pondering the day's events. Ah, change.

But now, as I look back into the house, I see a coziness that is missing in the heat of the summer months. The pressed coffee I just brought out to the deck for Tom and me to enjoy just tastes better on a cooler evening. Seeing the slow, transitioning sunrises always brings a smile to the heart and to the eyes.

Ah, change. 

One of THOSE Days

I didn't think today was one of THOSE days until I started reviewing in my head all the events that transpired. When I woke up, all seemed quite normal. Then, around 9:45, I lost my internet connection. No big deal unless your office and work is dependent up those internets...as I am. I busied myself doing some other projects and then called the Internet provider. They agreed that I had no signal...always good to get validation. We discussed that it was probably time for an antenna upgrade. I'm officially on the list. Fortunately, around 12:45, the signal popped back up as if nothing had happened. So, I continued on.

During lunch, I decided to pressure some beef short ribs, since they are notoriously tough. All was well until it sounded as though a shotgun went off in the kitchen. When I raced in to see what caused the noise, I noticed that the little rubber pressure knob had shot straight up into the range hood and came back down on the hot burner, leaving only a trace of a perfect circle. When I found the little culprit, it looked as pristine as ever. Fortunately, no liquid or other oddities has escaped the pan. Crisis averted.

Once I got started back to work, I received a couple of phone calls that I thought later could've been answered by the machine--kind of time wasters. About a 7.5 on the annoyance scale.

My mom called and said she was unable to watch a dvd due to her dvd player not working. I suggested I go see about it once I did the weed trimming.  When I got to her house, I tried the dvd player and the only thing I was able to get it to do was give me a mild shock. Not achieving any success on that project, back home I went. As I was pulling the car into the garage, I heard an awful noise, like a cat that had been hit. I got the car shut down, went through the house, and peeked around the wall to check the concrete and expect the worst. No cat. No blood...whew. I walked around the house and did a quick head count and that's when I saw poor little Thor...it was him that I heard. I had trouble with him earlier wanting to hang around the weed eater while I was using it. I know--unbelievable. In the words of Hank Hill, "The boy just ain't right." I patted his head and then said a little prayer over him asking God to let him die peacefully--and at the second he popped up and started walking around...pretty wobbly, but walking for a time. Last time I checked on him, he was still among the living. If he lives through the night, I guess we can add "unsteady gait" to his list of maladies.

Once Tom arrived home, it was time to share all the interesting items of the day. Once I started reliving the day, I realized just how full and somewhat crazed it was. We decided it was time for a quiet supper and a good drink...it has a way of curing even one of THOSE days.

Life IS Change...Listen to the Wisdom

Today marks the anniversary of a day in our lives that turned everything we know and hold sacred wrong-side out. We have, over the years, grieved, feared, lashed out in anger, wept, and hopefully listened to the wisdom that any tragedy in our lives imparts. In listening to the wisdom, we have to move forward. Anger must cease; hatred must not take all our energies. We now realize that our country (nor we) are invincible; as a result, we can become wider in our scope of how to be a citizen of the world.

Most importantly, perhaps, is that we need to realize that there is good in all groups, creeds, religions. To mark this complicated time in history, I've started reading the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. This man chose to deal with the horrific events by building understanding as well as schools for the children of the Taliban, so they might have a life of pure learning, not patterned hatred.

Our greatest commandment is to "love one another"; we were never promised this would be easy. But then again, the easy road will never lead to wisdom.

Life IS change...listen to the wisdom.

An Evening of Firsts

Tonight is certainly going to be interesting and hopefully successful on the 50 Adventures at 50 front. After some research, I put together the first of several  Irish meals. It's been quite the adventure so far; I've been to both
Borders and Barnes and Noble to take a peek at their collection of Irish cookbooks. It didn't take long--there aren't any. All the bazillion of cookbooks at both places and when I look, they go from Indian to Italian...no Irish. And in our area where Scots, Irish, and English is a strong orientation, it seems very odd indeed. So, I went to my source--the Internet. As I cook I also hope to learn from Domini Kemp of the Irish Times who has kindly consented to be the occasional guide as I go through the process.

My second "quest" is to work remotely with #1 son to do data recovery on Tom's crashed laptop and my asthmatic, queasy work laptop. It's extremely interesting to see the inner workings
 of those machines. One of the 50 Adventures is to learn simple repairs...SIMPLE?!? The good news...as I write this, the Spinrite is running along on Tom's computer and the 'ol codger (my work computer) is next on the list. The adventure continues at Weismanhaus.

And the Site Goes On...

Say what you will about Google, but they do have some good stuff in their toy box for us to play with...and for free! I don't know about you, but free is the right price for me...especially when I'm practicing.

If any of you out there are feeling like you'd like to take on the challenge of creating your own simple website, just go to Google Sites and there you can find all kinds of great tools to help you along with some neat backgrounds, gadgets, and all kinds of easy steps to help you make something half way decent.

My main goal was to find something that would house all my various blogs. I'm kind of a compartmental freak and like things in neat piles where I don't have to think about continually looking for them.  This does just that for me. It also gives me a place to keep attention drawn to Heifer, The Smile Train, and Jill's House--three important organizations in my life.

As I keep working along in developing the site, it's my hope to have all roads leading to my site, Tina's Busy Brain...appropriate, eh? LOL

If you'd like to play with a site of your own, just go to Google; from there, if you don't have a google account you'll need one. It will only take a few minutes and then feel free to play to your heart's content!

Keep us posted on the comments how you're doing.

I'll let you know when the unveiling of Tina's Busy Brain will be :).

Labor Day: New Beginnings...Again

I just realized something...for the past two years on Labor Day, I have found my fall/winter hairstyle. Is that not the most random thing you've heard today? But then again, Labor Day is famous for marking changes...

I don't normally think of a warm day in the early part of September as a beginning, but in many ways I guess it truly is on our internal clocks. Schools (don't get us started) for many many years didn't begin until the day after Labor Day, so that hastened a new year; to the true traditionalists, the white purses, shoes, pants, and skirts were put away on Labor Day to hasten a new season of off-white and beige; before modern farming practices tied in with little global warming, farmers would start turning their thoughts to harvest, creating a new season. So, I guess we could almost say "Happy New Season" as much as "Happy Labor Day".

Of course, Labor Day itself is marked for bringing the American worker and working conditions into a more sane place. No more child labor, no more death-defying machinery, no more 12 hour work days...hhhmmm...I think we've come full circle on that one :).

I did read an interesting statistic from Valerie Strauss in the Washington Post. The fastest growing jobs in the future? Well, nursing of course (we babyboomers do have our needs) and network systems and data communication analysts. I find that exciting that as long as we have our minds and our gumption to learn, we can still be a valuable part of the workforce for years to come. I hope to find myself actively computing for many years to come...via la Labor force!

So, cheers to my fellow laborers, whatever your labor of choice may be and cheers to the changes this time of year brings.

Oh, and the hairstyle? A mid-century marvel to be sure. Hopefully I an talk this head of hair into becoming a smooth, longish 50s style I spotted this morning in. I consider myself especially fortunate to have a dear friend and very talented stylist in NY in whom I can ask "does this work?" Happy news...he said "Without a doubt." Thanks, Eddie :).