midsummer's night

Did my palate tasting today with my morning class~we're just having such fun. There's something magical when a class just clicks with personalities. 

Finally made it to a concert at Wolf Trap! While Steven Tyler is not my favorite artist, it was a fun evening with new friends. 

Getting all settled in on the lawn.

Pretty white grand piano.

While there were no stars, at least it didn't start pouring during the concert. Here's to summer fun. 

some daily joys

Fiercely focused on the minute blessings that were in my day~the first one was getting the parking space I prefer at work. It truly is the small things!

During the staff meeting, found that not only is my regular schedule full for July~I am getting to design and teach an elective. And tutor. And sub for the music school. After many months of no work, I am still deeply grateful for earning power. (And as if you even have to ask, my elective is going to be all about food!!!)

Came home and husked corn for a fresh plate of deliciousness.

And now that the day is wrapping up with another dramatic (thunder and political) storm, I am tucked in with a good book and some organic lavender lotion.  Ready for the kickoff to summer!

scavenger hunting

Meet my morning class~Marco from Capri, Jera from Punta Cana, and Negrui from Ulaanbaatar. 

We did a food scavenger hunt at a local market today and then ordered coffee~all in English, of course.

We got back to the school, dripping with sweat to discover that it was 100 degrees. But there were cupcakes with which to recover. Another fun day o' learnin'.

my pretty purple fan

With it being a sweltering 103, I carried my new fan to work tonight. I think I can figure out how to velcro my phone/keys to it and it shall be my new purse. My students were very happy that it was tucked in our corner for the evening.

A Few Good Men

Since I teach on Sundays, we had our celebration yesterday. Gifted Dad with this puzzle of an exhibit at the Smithsonian. 1000 pieces took at least five people~not sure of the final tally of hours to complete!

Yes, we did require the Bro-in-law to fire up the grill yesterday. 

My housemate is evidently allergic to a/c as she's turned it OFF these past few days. Days in which the temps are soaring, along with the humidity. Keeping high hopes that I land a job that will allow me to live on my own again. Some of us were not made for communal living.

my cup overflows

Maybe a lousy pic, but some cute new dishtowels from Trader's for the summer. 

Bowling with some of my ESL colleagues was a riotous way to kick off the weekend. I managed to not slip on the floors and made everyone else's scores look stellar. Still, it was an awful lot of fun and now I'm on a campaign to take a student field trip to this local alley.

Walked home, enjoyed the crescent moon and the evening star (doesn't show in this snap.) 

Time for a cookout to honor Father's Day and to say Bon Voyage to cousins moving to Florida next week.

Delicious food, multi-generational conversation and strong opinions about cheese and pickles were shared. 

Sweet little CupKate.

Some Uno to amuse the poor teens marooned from their video games.

When your cousin moves to Florida and your sister finds the perfect housewarming gift!!

Did you know that they make glue that GLOWS & has glitter in it??? Slime was made and projects were painted. Puzzles assembled. Naps. The treat of dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Fireflies. Stories read by the three-year old.

A restorative and lovely slice of life.

seize the day

sounds so aggressive and arrogant~as if you know best. What if it's better to allow the day to unfold?

if there is no field trip...

District Taco is the closest thing to real Mexican food around here

create your own!

A little nosh prior to getting my hairs cut at the Aveda School~am so lucky that the school is across from my favorite art gallery around here. Nice to pop in and see the new exhibits and say hello to old favs. 

The newest exhibit is Blackout: Silhouettes Then & Now~featuring the history of art of silhouttes~basically for those who could not afford a photograph. 

I was fascinated with Jumi Yamashita's" light sculptures. 

How she creates faces out of wrinkles on the paper is intriguing. 

Difficult to see from this pic, but the only object on the wall was some plastic piping.

Random large shiny orb~tried to see my future in it, but nope.

I need to visit with someone to film as this is an interactive graphic~the bloom of colour on the right is the aftermath of me dancing across the room. This is an entire wall of swirling colours. 

Very fun afternoon~a great way to celebrate grading all mid-terms and getting a hair cut.

Powerpoint & Poetry

We kicked off this morning with story time~grabbed a stack of children's books from the library. Didn't even realize that I had gotten a lovely book written by a friend of a friend~an author I met briefly in Austin. Pick up anything by Liz Garland Scanton and you know you'll have a good story.

After a truly vile week of political fiascos, we were all buoyed by this book's ending.

It was computer lab day, so I bribed them with Trader's treats.

coulda, woulda, shoulda

One of today's lessons was on modals and when I asked students to form questions using them~Talal's was "could you make the mid-term easy?" Major points for proper usage!!

double take

Working on adjectives of likes/dislikes, I turned around and one of my beginning students listed this under "Interesting". I don't know how many of my American students would even know that word!!

un-titled

Vivid lilies in the twilight. 

I don't know what these weeds are, but I remember years of my cousins & I pulling them apart and whomever had the longest/most strings told the most lies that day. Why we were endlessly amused by this, I do not know! Who can explain the minds of middle schoolers?

enchantment

~noun

1. a feeling of great pleasure; delight. "the enchantment of the mountains"

 2. the state of being under a spell; magic.

After a rather dismal week on myriad levels, (Kate Spade AND Anthony Bourdain??), it was a delight to see the season's first fireflies tonight!! Another memory I will tuck in my pocket forever is that of my sweet three-year-old niece "reading" a bedtime story to me.

These glimmers of magic carry us onwards.