leavin', actually already left, on an jet plane

One of my favourite students~Ori.  She spelled her name for the Starbucks barista and came away with a cup for "Moi".

Hazy slooooooowww approach~I thought I was over my sinus infection.  Evidently not by the sharp pains in my head.  But I got a couple of nice shots~here's one of the National Cathedral.

Did I mention that I got up at 3 a.m. and that we had a two-hour layover in Atlanta?  Oodles of fun trying to keep tabs on 56 teenagers in a major airport.

November birthstones at the Smithsonian.

Oh yes, the shrine of Ms. Julia Child.

Even though I wasn't a fan (I know, gasp and shh), Prince was a major influence in the music industry and it was interesting to see his guitar on display.

Ms. Obama's gorgeous dress. 

Smallest Texas flag I've seen.  Was irked that we had only TWO hours at the Smithsonian, but still crammed quite a bit in. 

The corner of Lafayette Park. 

All these times in DC, and I've yet to actually go into the House.

Gorgeous twilight. 

I tear up every time I climb these stairs and stand at the foot of this statue.

And because I am with 7th graders, all the poignancy of that moment was ended with them gasping in delight in recognizing a scene from Forrest Gump.

And now all the little squirrels are tucked in their rooms and we literally have two guards out in the hallways. Stay tuned for tomorrow's escapades.

landscapes~owned & lost

From today's library stroll

There are landscapes one can own,

bright rooms which look out to the sea,
tall houses where beyond the window
day after day the same dark river
turns slowly through the hills, and there
are homesteads perched on mountaintops
whose cool white caps outlast the spring.

And there are other places which,
although we did not stay for long,
stick in the mind and call us back—
a valley visited one spring
where walking through an apple orchard
we breathed its blossom with the air.
Return seems like a sacrament.

Then there are landscapes one has lost—
the brown hills circling a wide bay
I watched each afternoon one summer
talking to friends who now are dead.
I like to think I could go back again
and stand out on the balcony,
dizzy with a sense of déjà vu.

But coming up these steps to you
at just that moment when the moon,
magnificently full and bright
behind the lattice-work of clouds,
seems almost set upon the rooftops
it illuminates, how shall I
ever summon it again?

"Places to Return" by Dana Gioia from The Gods of Winter. © Graywolf Press, 1991

Even the utility wires are into this Spring thing.

life lesson #78

Listen to your body.  The first time it speaks.  While I did take a day off from school, I pretty much ignored what I thought were sniffles this week.  Then, I realized with an air-plane trip looming, I ought to see if it is a sinus infection (not something to discover at 40,000 ft).  I popped into see a doctor during lunch and found that I have the flu, and the sinus infection, AND pneumonia.  She asked me what the hell I was doing at work today. Um, finishing trimester grades and report card comments and running graduation rehearsals?

Now I am home with two shots in me and vials and bitters and pills.  And a blissfully free weekend for rest and respite.

My current batch of chickadees

Well, minus the 5th graders (who will be included in next year's outing) and 12 feckless singers who ditched the tour.  Some, for reasons, not quite legitimate.  Not that I hold grudges.

Warm-ups.

They did me proud.

the consolation of chatting

With all the rains we've been having, things are growing everywhere.

With the brutal pace of the past three weeks, I had planned a personal day for yesterday.  Met with a friend at a favourite cafe and was able to snag a table in the Tree Room.  Yes, the cafe is built around this large oak tree.  This!  This is my kind of al fresco dining~no skeeters nor annoying grackles to steal food.

This was with an Austin friend and I thanked her for our fairly new friendship and how marvellous it was~I said that when we met, it were as though we were continuing a conversation we started years ago.  

Friends.  Are truly what can carry one through a day.

Thanks to all y'all friends out there in the cyber world!

18,000 words

The touring of the Trinity Episcopal MS Choir began in the very early hours on Saturday.  Am pleased to state that I not only brought home the same children that I left with~but that they (per usual for singers) behaved themselves well.

Very breezy shot as we arrived in Dallas.

Making wise choices for lunch (i.e. not pure sugary products~they all had to prove to me that they were having one portion of protein...they had NO idea when they signed up for choir that their dietary habits would be altered.)

Please notice the darling boy in the center with the bow tie and sling~he recently snapped his collar bone and despite innervating pain, his dad drove him to Dallas and back for TEN minutes of singing.  That, my friends, is a true choral person.

The other wounded singer who snapped her ankle earlier~it was nice to see the kids take turns pushing her around Six Flags in a wheel chair so that she could have just as much fun as they.

Being the teacher means you do room check at the end of an 18-hour day and take cell phones away so they actually sleep instead of endlessly Snapchatting.  They had to turn them off in my presence because I promised a painful death if one of them rang in the middle of the night and woke me.

But I provided a tray FULL of doughnuts the next morning to ease their pain~or rather, the Crowne Plaza did.

Beautiful detailing in the lobby flooring provided a labyrinth walk while I was waiting for them to clear their rooms and check out.

We had a smooth ride home and just missed the wild t-storms and flash flooding that I thought would hit in the middle of our trip.  Whew.

And Bogart had tales to tell of his 48 hours of bachelor life.  And I don't care if it's only 3 p.m.~I am going to bed.

from the spotlight to sewage in twenty-four hours

I got to spend today with the 8th graders on an Earth Day outing~we were at the waste treatment site in Austin.  A very pleasant mellow day~breezes, birds, a few bugs, and best of all?  It wasn't my circus~I was merely a helper.

Stay tuned for tales of my circus~which begins tomorrow morning at 6:30 a.m.