November 22nd: I Am Thankful For Neruda's Words

Here are some of my favorite words:

 You can say anything you want, yessir, but it's the words that sing, they soar and descend . . . I bow to them . . . I love them, I cling to them, I run them down, I bite into them, I melt them down . . . I love words so much . . . The unexpected ones . . . The ones I wait for greedily or stalk until, suddenly, they drop . . . Vowels I love . . . They glitter like colored stones, they leap like silver fish, they are foam, thread, metal, dew . . . I run after certain words . . . They are so beautiful that I want to fit them all into my poem . . . I catch them in midflight, as they buzz past, I trap them, clean them, peel them, I set myself in front of the dish, they have a crystalline texture to me, vibrant, ivory, vegetable, oily, like fruit, like algae, like agates, like olives . . . And I stir them, I shake them, I drink them, I gulp them down, I mash them, I garnish them, I let them go . . . I leave them in my poem like stalactites, like slivers of polished wood, like coals, pickings from a shipwreck, gifts from the waves . . . Everything exists in the word . . . From Memoirs by Pablo Neruda (NY: Penguin, 1974), p. 53.

November 21st:: I Am Thankful for The Psalms

 It is only fitting that I begin the week of Thanksgiving with this psalm:

 Psalm 100 

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

 Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

 Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

November 20th: I Am Thankful for The Sixth Street Theater

It doesn't matter if I go to a melodrama during the summer months, a musical production in the fall, or a comedy in the spring. Every time I go to a show at the Sixth Street Theater in Wallace, Idaho I am entertained. Recently I attended "Wunnerful! Wunnerful! : The Magic and Memories of the Lawrence Welk Show." Joy Persoon was the writer, director, and accompanist. She wanted to capture the memories she had of Saturday nights during her childhood complete with getting her hair rolled up, her Dad wanting popcorn with butter, and her mom swooning over her favorite stars.
My sister and her husband were brilliant as Guy Hovis and Raina English.

 SVG also got to be a Lennon Sister with her own daughter. My brother-in-law brightened up his smile as Tom Netherton.

 There were gospel songs, old standards, polkas, an accordion player, and a tribute to George M. Cohan. Here are some photos that captured the magic of the evening. I am so thankful I have the pleasure of enjoying all this talent. My nieces look beautiful in the choir or wearing their striking red dresses.

 ....and they look lovely in their old-fashioned dresses also!

November 19th: I Am Thankful for My Supportive Family and Friends

At 6:30 this morning I got online to find out if I had made the score to be considered a National Board Certified Teacher. I was so relieved to see my score of 286 because I knew I only needed 275 to pass. When I applied for the scholarship last year to support my effort,  a question I was asked was about my support system of people during the National Board process. It was not at all difficult to answer that question. JEJ had already agreed to support me by allowing someone else to clean the house, by volunteering to do shopping and even do cooking sometimes. He also understood the time it would take  be successful. He was also there cheering me on. My mom, brother and sister were there unconditionally to encourage me and I knew if I hit a wall, which I did, they would be there as my cheerleaders. They never let me down. I also had so many friends that had more faith in me than I had sometimes. My school staff was also a huge support group. Students heard early and all my sixth grade students were there in the hall to congratulate me as I arrived.  Today it was such a pleasure to say thanks to so many people as I kept pinching myself, still having a hard time allowing the good news to sink in.

November 18th: I Am Thankful for the Sky

I don't know why we have had amazing skies from the summer through the fall. I don't understand cloud formations enough to know why the sky can be filled with such a variety of clouds. What I do know is that I love these photo images of the sky.

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November 17th: I Am Thankful for Patience

"I am extraordinarily patient, provided I get my own way in the end." Margaret Thatcher 

A few days ago I received a new laptop computer in the mail. I knew if I didn't replace my "old" one soon everything would explode, implode, burn up, or just fizzle and die. These last few days have taught me patience. I love the smaller and more lightweight model. I love the shiny red color. I have spent lots of time figuring out what needs to be moved, loaded, uploaded, downloaded, put on an external hard drive, stored online, and/or dumped in the trash. I thought decluttering my paper files in August was a task!
Why do I save every document I have ever written on the hard drive? Go figure. 
Patiently I have learned new things about my new model. Patiently I have sorted documents, recipes, photos, and programs. I hope sometime soon to be able to donate my first laptop to my classroom and find everything I need on my new one.