Easter Without Any Traditions

Easter morning I dressed in my colorful Anthropology pants outfit with confetti-patterned top; azul-blue pants; and long, flowing, rust-colored sweater which looked like a celebratory party in fabric.  I also wore my 1.5”-oval, Ostrich-eggshell earrings to represent Easter eggs.  I didn’t really care if this new Fair Oaks Presbyterian church would be offended by my free spirited dress.  I was dressing for God, not people.  Easter is the Super bowl day of Christ followers---when the sacred lamb, Jesus, sacrificed himself as a sin offering, so that we could be worthy---forgiven of our sins---to enter Heaven via Him.  

During my walk from the parking boondocks to the large, popular church, I felt that it was just as extreme as some of those women in Easter hats and colorful dresses.  The church members greeted me with a nice welcome table and gave me a bag of promotional items like a “New Testament:  Psalms & Proverbs” NIV handbook.   I like reading the Torah and Tanuch, the Old Testament, with the New Testament, but the handbook was a nice gesture.

The Easter service began with the bell choir playing “Were You There.”  Thirteen women played two notes each with bells.  Tears came to the corners of my eyes while I listened to the beauty of their musical piece.  At times they changed bells to sustain bells which were quite a pleasure to hear.

Then the musical about Jesus rising from the tomb started.  It was like being in the audience of a TV church production.  I was just amazed at the professionally trained voices of the soloists.  The chancel (chamber) choir also sang “Hallelujah form Mount of Olives,” a beautiful 5 to 6 piece harmony by Beethoven.   They did such a wonderful job that I really wanted to become Presbyterian just to join that choir!

However, the main reason to join a church choir is to be a part of a church with a pastor or priest that has the messages from God that I need to hear.  The Fair Oaks Presbyterian pastor delivered.  His message was “Are You In?”  He was quite colorful, expressive, and charismatic.  He definitely is a potential pastor for me.  I will have to go to a few more regular services to see if he can keep up his freshness and zest.

Verbally wrestling reluctant Drew, I tried to get him to answer, “Are You In?” but in regards to going to Blair’s house for Easter supper.   He eventually was and we arrived with a few boundaries.  Drew knew that Blair and I just liked having him around.  I knew that I needed to steer Blair to ask more questions of Drew instead of talk about her medical issues.  Drew wanted his presence to matter.  He wanted to be more than a listener, but a sharer of his life, too.

Drew enjoyed the amazing Easter supper of orange duck, broccoli, and couscous and some of the conversation.  I did manage to steer some of Blair’s conversations toward learning about Drew, but our family’s ability to talk about ourselves is quite engrained.  I’m just glad that my kids and ex-husband did an intervention on me to make me aware of my lack of conversational ability.  Now I can try to improve that.

After supper Drew sprinted back to San Francisco State University.  Our Easter was quite different today.  I went to church by myself.  We had no Easter egg hunts, except mine to find my Ostrich-egg-shell earrings.  We didn’t have an enormous feast with my cousin, Alice.  We just had a different Easter.  It’s a new life to settle upon new traditions.
P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

Morning Light Upon My Colorful Blossoms!

                 As I ate breakfast I was struck in awe by the sunlit, pink blossoms on the flowering plum tree just beyond the fence and cardinal leaves of my Japanese Maple tree which is the center piece of my kitchen area courtyard.  The rains had forced me to focus on the inside of the condo, but the blossoming courtyards of the condo were beckoning to me like plants that knew just how to entice me to walk amongst them. 

                Grabbing my camera after my last bite, I quickly seized the moment.  The gorgeous morning light upon the plethora of petals and colorful leaves called to me, and I knew that it was fleeting.

                Like the beckoning of the garden, the thought of my collegiate son arriving later in the afternoon crossed my mind and spurred me to finish unpacking the few boxes that littered the upstairs hallway and bedrooms and vacuuming.  It took a few hours, but the closets were well organized as long term storage in the two guest bedrooms and certain areas of the office/sewing/storage room and master bedroom were piled with boxes for future exploration.

                Next the bare refrigerator had to be filled.  I was quickly becoming the stereotypical, single career woman with no food in her frig!  Bel Air, the local supermarket, was full of people gathering food for Easter celebrations.  Moving the cart down aisles took a great deal of patience with the clustering of people everywhere.  Not being familiar with the store layout did not help my grocery shopping efficiency either.

                The Easter lilies were the first item in my cart.  I’d be eating Easter lunch at my sister’s house and Easter lilies always reminded me of Blair’s and my journey to find the perfect Easter lily for Mom.  I had to get her one.  When we were young girls, we walked over a ½ mile to our local grocery store to get an Easter lily for Mom, but none of their lilies were in bloom.  So we left and walked to a Short Stop almost 2 miles from our home and found our treasure---the perfect Easter lily for Mom.  We gently carried it all the way home and our mom was so happy! 

                Once I gathered a basketful of food at the grocery store for my upcoming week and my visiting son, I headed home to bake.   I created a peach pie recipe in my head based on my apple pie recipe minus the spices.  Peaches need only sweetness with tartness to make a delicious peach pie.  I picked a lemon from the tree outside and used half its juice for the pie, ½ cup of flour to thicken the pie juice, and used a cup of Splenda to replace the cup of sugar.  After draining the three jars of sliced peaches and mixing the flour and Splenda, I layered the pie filling in a Pillsbury pie crust---Splenda mixture, bits of butter, lemon juice, and peach layers.  Then I closed the pie with the top crust and decorated it with an Easter bunny and crucifixes.

                I also cooked up some brownies for Drew and then took the trash out.  Just as I was heading through the garage, my neighbor who was my dad’s patient came over to buy three books!  Yay!  So I signed a few hard copies for him.  One thing of which I always knew the location was my sharpie pen for signing books. J  An active author always has several sharpies on hand!

                Drew finally arrived just before the brownies were finished.  For some reason my phone and internet went down between my neighbor’s book signing and my son’s arrival.  I couldn’t open the gate at the front of our community with my landline.  I was so disappointed in Comcast.  They just repaired my internet and phone connections on Thursday, but apparently they only repaired a symptom and not the root cause of the problem.  When I tried to contact them about sending a repairman out ASAP, they hung up on my three times!  If there was another reputable internet provider for my area, I would dump Comcast in a nanosecond.  I hate monopolies!

                Drew’s Hawaiian shirt caught my eye as he pulled up in the metallic-turquoise Nissan.  A neighbor in a cherry-red, Mercedes, sports car slowed in the distance, as if to study my son walking back to my condo with me.  I warned my neighbors that my son is 6’-3” and a little scary looking (not to me, but to conservative, rich people), but he is a sweetheart.

                I remember when I took Drew to a Romero’s concert at St. James and saw the reaction to his appearance from some of the older, Rancho Santa Fe ladies that didn’t normally frequent the church.   Even though they had had at least 3 plastic surgeries, they managed to show fear on their tightly-stretched, Botoxed faces. 

After the concert Drew asked me, “Mom, are middle-aged women afraid of me?”

                “Yes.  It’s your long hair and height.  Even your grandfather is a little intimidated by your height,” I honestly answered. 

Honestly, I found the faces of the surgically-altered women much scarier---even scarier than an adult Halloween mask.  Their life was a mask---a superficial representation of a happy life with too much money.  It seemed that they had no love of inner, lasting beauty that exudes from the eyes that see God’s gifts, laughing wrinkles, and a truly happy smile.   I only hope that those poor women had experienced real love.  How truly horrifying it would be to live a full life and never know love which is priceless.  Love is more priceless than seeing the morning sun alight the plethora of colors of the leaves and flower blossoms in my courtyards.

P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

Friday Night Sunset Paddle

      It was the end of a great first week as a SIATech math teacher.  Progress was slow for a few students, but they still made some progress.  Only two students were a major concern for me.  The boxer was moving slowly through practice assessments and inching his scores higher as I’d pass by, see what he didn’t know, give him a quick lesson, and let him loose on his practice assessments again.  The student I’ll call Boomerang was not making progress though. 

     His nickname, Boomerang, was earned, because whatever any teacher teaches him, he twists the lesson around, finds fault that the teacher or test writer caused, and never takes any responsibility for his own failings.  When I asked him how long he’d been taking this one final assessment on Module 1, he showed me his paperwork and said, “January.  I don’t see why I have to pass this final test when I passed all the unit tests.  These tests are wrong, too.  They’ve got wrong answers.”

     After he left at the end of the period, I started taking his Module 1 Final.  Nope, the answers were all right in that assessment.  I just needed to teach him a few techniques, so he could pass that assessment.  I rummaged through a lot of Pre-algebra workbooks and tagged pages for Boomerang to do for practice.  Then today I explained that he should do these pages, and he’ll do much better on the assessment.  I gave him a brief lesson as well that he watched via a suspicious sideways gaze.

      When I returned to grade papers, I watched him not work on the workbooks and start the computer assessment again.  He completed that final assessment and failed again.  I walked over and said, “Do you know that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?”

       “Are you calling me insane!”

       I calmly reassured, “No.  I’m explaining to you the definition of insanity.  Doing the final assessment over and over again for three months and expecting to pass it without trying to do anything different is insane and will just make you angry.  I’m not calling you insane.  Don’t take my statement personally.”

       Class ended and soon my teaching day ended.  On the way home I had an extreme need for kayaking.  I needed to get out into the wide open spaces and focus on all the beauty in this world!  Driving directly to the Sacramento Aquatics Center at Lake Natoma, I borrowed a rental kayak, since my private kayak launch area was overtaken by a sports team bonding session, and got into my peaceful zone.

       I found a lot of birds.  I saw a type of wood duck with a cool, rust-colored head with tufts of feathers like a horse’s mane on the back.  I found egrets nesting in trees with cormorants.  Down south in San Diego the cormorants nest on ocean cliffs and the egrets nest in the wetlands.  I’d never seen them nest in high trees before and in such a large nesting colony. 

       The vultures were all nesting next to the trees with the egrets and cormorants.  I guess even other birds don’t like vultures!  They are not only honor less scavengers; they’re the ugliest bird, too.

        Canadian geese are all over Lake Natoma.  They’re usually in mating pairs.

        After discovering a well hidden rope swing, curiosity lured me to explore the abandoned water pump station for the former river----which has been partially submerged when the waters of Lake Natoma rose. 

         It dawned on me as I was paddling that I had no idea what time it was while I was paddling back.  My waterproof watch was attached to my kayak’s seat.  This borrowed kayak had no watch.  I used the sun as a gauge, but I didn’t know what time the sun sets.  I paddled so hard that my elbows actually started to feel it, but I made it back to the Aquatic Center before they closed the women’s locker room at 7pm.  They actually kept it open for me, because I arrived at 7:08pm.  At least I have a spare car key on my lifejacket at all times, so I could have gotten home if the front desk left.

P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

    

New Kayaking Water---Lake Natoma

    After another great day at work, I decided to drive directly to Lake Natoma and use my new paddling membership at the Sacramento State Aquatic Center.

P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

Settling in as a Teacher

    Day two went as well as day 1.  My classes weren’t just on good behavior, because it was my first day.   They are well behaved!  So classroom management is not my major focus, teaching is.   My biggest challenge is keeping track of which username goes with what secure government network---Job Corp or SIATech High School.

     Once I mastered the computer networks, I was able to take attendance, unlock exams for students that didn’t pass the first two, and check and answer my business e-mail.  I also had time to understand what AutoCAD commands the students are learning in their mathematics modules, so I could help them. 

     Of course, the students ask, “When will I ever use AutoCAD?”  So this morning to answer this question, I mounted on the wall one of my landscape, gazebo, and toxic and combustible gas delivery system designs which were drawn using AutoCAD or TurboCAD.   I also mounted a CVD pentagonal chamber design that someone designed using AutoCAD and a chart about the different types of fasteners.  What other math class would a fastener poster be appropriate?  Only this one for the students learning trades.

     At the end of the day I graded papers and attended my first staff meeting.  The other staff is really friendly and isn’t political or cynically complaining about the administration or district.  We just have our principal, who’s friendly and supportive.  The rest of the administration is in Oceanside, so we have a long leash.  It’s going to be a wonderful work life!  How wonderful to finally find my teaching niche!!!

P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

First Day of Working as a Contracted Math Teacher!!!

   It was the first day of my new life in Sacramento.  I started my unusual math teaching job for students who have been expelled or dropped out of high school, orphaned, homeless, or Eritrean refugees to name a few.  As I waited in the security entrance to enter the school, I watched security wand every student that lived off campus.  I had no idea what all my classes would be like, but the day went better than I ever dreamed!

   My co-teacher has an extremely organized style which is exactly what I like.  She developed a student filing system and now that she’ll have more time, I’m sure that she’ll organize more.  When I told her that I had Aspergers, she didn’t know how to accommodate me.  I explained, “I am brutally honest and have few privacy issues, so you just say, ‘TMI---too much information!’”

    The students wear their trade uniforms to school.  One had a bright-orange, reflective vest signifying that he was learning the heavy equipment trade.  Many wore security guard uniforms.  The gray-blue, certified-medical-assistant uniforms stood out.  The culinary-arts program is ending, since the jobs in that area have dried up and a certified-nurse-assistant program will replace it.  Job Corp is definitely doing a good job of training the students for jobs that are available and needed.

    During an intervention meeting with one of my new students, I listened to the other teachers talk to the young man who was obsessed with boxing.  He passed his CAHSEE, so he was intelligent and not in need of accommodations.  He just wasn’t finishing his curriculum to get his high school diploma.  The teachers were extremely frustrated, since this was his second intervention meeting.

    “Where were you before you came to SIATech?”

     “The streets.”

     “Where will you go if you don’t graduate from SIATech?”

      “The streets.”

      “We can’t care about your high school diploma more than you.  You have to care and do the work.”

       After the teachers had exhausted their insights, I added, “When you’re stressed, you box.  So you focus on boxing, because it helps you deal with all your stress.  When you’re in math and frustrated, take a deep breath to relax yourself.  That’s what I do when I get stressed.  Then get up and write your name on the board to get help.  That will give you a little physical movement to help calm you down.”

     When I got to period 3, he was seated right next to me.  So as he stewed in his silent frustration over a math problem, I helped him.  Eventually, he said, “Look at this tutorial.  This is what I don’t understand.”

      Realizing that he just told me that he needed a different tool from which to learn, I pulled out a few math books---a pre-algebra and algebra book.  He liked the traditional algebra book and really started working.  I felt so jazzed that I was able to help him.  Now he has a better chance of staying off the streets.

     After all the tough classes for which I’ve taught or subbed, I found today that the challenging students weren’t even very challenging.  This seems like it’s going to be an easy career life.  Now I just have to get used to getting up at 5:30 am.

P.S.  To my blog readers:  If you want to support a struggling math/engineering teacher and author, please buy my first book, "The Romance of Kilimanjaro," soon to be followed by my second book at:  https://www.tatepublishing.com/bookstore/book.php?w=9781613464960         Thank You!

   

Project Move: Day 32 Finished

    No, the boxes are not all opened and their contents put in their place, but I'm calling my move completed.  I know where everything is again, though it's not where I'd like it.  That will take another week or two.  However, I'm settled and ready to go to work as an "At Risk" secondary math teacher at an alternative high school.  My clothes are pressed, shoes polished, truck ready for the commute, appropriate teaching items discovered and loaded into the truck, and fitness membership and equipment purchased.  
    Though I won't be using my new skiis until next season, I went to Clarks Ski Shop in Rancho Cordova and bought everything at a serious discount!  They were so helpful, too!  They had me watch a video about the rocker K-2 skiis, so that I could understand the new technology, since my skiis are from 1982 and museum worthy.  Apparently, the rocker skiis are based on snowboarding technology which is what I've been doing while I wasn't skiing.  My kids wanted to snowboard, not ski, so I snowboarded with them.  I prefer the control of skiing, especially now that I'm older and don't want to get injured though.
     When I asked Clarks about ski clubs, they said that Alpine Adventures has Winterset for adults, as well as Snowdrifters for the kids.  They have scheduled bus trips to the slopes with discounted tickets and optional lessons.  When I was a kid, I was part of Avalanche Ski Club which did the same thing.  That's how I became an expert skier---catching the bus at the Arden-Arcade donut shop at 5:30am, sleeping and eating breakfast on the bus, skiing all day, hopping back on the bus at a specified time, and heading home.  I did that almost every Saturday with my friends.  It's fabulous that they have this for adults, too.  Next season I'm joining!!!
      After lunch at Rubios, which just isn't the same as San Diego's Rubios, I headed to Sacramento State Aquatic Center at Lake Natoma.  They'd previously given me a tour of the facilities.  I noted then that they had stationary bikes and rowing machines for inclemental-weather-day exercise.  After reading their catalog, I decided to get a Paddling Membership.  With that I can use their weight and locker rooms after work; borrow single-sit-on-top kayaks, tandem kayaks when I have guests, yak kayaks with the yokes, canoes, rowing ergometers (whatever they are), and Stand-Up Boards; and get discounts on their classes and outtings.  I also signed up for a river kayaking class, stand-up paddle class, and sunset paddle later in April and May.  What fun to have this center 3 miles from me!
     Now I'm ready to live, work, and play in Sacramento.  All I have to do now is pick out an outfit for work tomorrow and get a good nights sleep.  5:30am is going to be tough at first, but I'll get used to waking up at that time every morning.  How nice to know exactly what time to get up and where I'm driving every week day.  No more substitute teaching and living like a fireman waiting for the call to tell me where to go!  I'm a contracted teacher!!! :-)