Foggy Friday

[Bethers]

Liz, all the cg's I stopped at had some large spaces, but they filled up earlier in the day - so you might want to drive early and stop early. I love that drive. And I'd be the one heading over from the highway to take that route. Enjoy it. I know you've driven it, Liz, but hope that Nan enjoys it just as much.

[Redetotry]

Good Morning
We have lots of sunshine today and climbing temps. So good to see the sun again. Enjoyed your early am photo too, Liz. Hard to imagine others still dealing with snow.

I actually accomplished a few things past couple of days; house mostly dusted and vacuumed, clean sheets on bed, washing caught up - nothing exciting but at least it is progress. Worked on restocking all the perishable food I lost during week long power outage; an expensive undertaking and I have not put anything back in freezer yet.

Even tried a class for improving balance and flexibility. Doctor had suggested I go to an exercise class for arthritis but it is only offered very early morning so I opted for next best thing with early afternoon time. Most of it was fairly easy. One thing I could not do was stand on one foot, close eyes and slowly move head without swaying. Can any of you do that?

Soos: I also vote for not being on the road during a long holiday weekend.

Hope all of you have something fun planned for this weekend. I need to find something like that to add to my list.

Sarah, I've been doing yoga for a few years and have pretty good balance but I found standing of one foot, closing my eyes and moving my head without swaying a real challenge cold only hold it a couple of head turns. Think maybe whoever is teaching the class might want to explain that one. Our yoga instructor tells us that while standing on one foot (doing what is called tree pose) it is natural to sway and we leave our eyes open an focus on an object while we are doing the exercise. But good for you for doing the class it is amazing how fast I gained strength doing gentle yoga.

As for kids today I think we can only say may God help us! I can't believe the lack of discipline and the lack of parental attention. They seem to think it is up to the school to teach their child to be civilized, all the things the child should have learned about basic behavior before being allowed out in public! My friend works as a teachers aid at a public school where the students are kindergarten through second grade and I am appalled at how many are in 'special' classes because they are pretty much uncontrollable. Most are on some type of drug but the parents many times don't medicate them and they try to kick, bite and exhibit behavior that is hard to believe. I know I couldn't stand to be in a room with them.

[JoanE]

Beautiful photo, Liz of one of my all time favorite places. Since I spent most of the afternoon with rivulets running down my body from the temp in my RV (first lesson - fill up gas tank so generator can run since it is about 90 today), it is funny to read about cold temps and snow in other parts of the country. Spent the afternoon measuring my interior storage cubbies and planning my packing. Introduced Maggie to our new home today. She was not impressed. Wouldn't even eat her cookie that I bribed her with. Maybe with a/c......

I am a big supporter of good teachers however not all teachers are good. I certainly had my share of both in my life as have my daughters. My large extended family has several teachers among them so I have heard about the difficulties of being a teacher and I have heard about the rewards too. A year ago, I volunteered as a reading tutor for a 10 year old boy. He was ADHD, had been retained one grade and told me when we first met that he couldn't read. I found that he could read but he feared making mistakes and being laughed at so he mumbled very softly when he read. I suggested that we take turns. I would use expression and read in a normal speaking voice. Without coaching, he began to do the same, mimicking me. I gave him a lot of praise. As he relaxed in our sessions, I found him to be exceptionally bright. He was interested in myriad subjects and knew a lot of trivia about each subject. I decided to "interview" him about his likes and then I wrote an adventure story featuring him. My artist friend did illustrations and I had it bound into a book which I gave to him at the end of the school year. He loved it. I'm not sure who gained the most from our sessions together however he did give me pause when he asked me if I had any piercings. lol

[AlmostThere]

Early evening here. Another sunny, warm day so I didn't want to waste it being inside. I took Choco to the state park and we got our morning walk in. By noon it was getting too warm for him. We've had 3 days in a row of low 70s!! First time since last Sept!!

Yesterday I rode along with my DD,SIL and GD to go to CISPUS in Randall, WA. CISPUS is a week long camp for 5th grade students and my other GD got to attend this year. Yesterday was Family Day. The compound has been there for quite a long while but sadly it seems too many schools can no longer afford to send their kids there. Goodness but they sure are structured. The kids only have 45 mins a day of down time to do what they want. Otherwise they are in an art class, nature class or nature hiking or writing in their journals. Journal writing seems to be the key to getting to attend evening movies or camfires. If you don't journal, you don't get to attend. Not sure what they do then. I did like the drive to the camp in that it passed a CG that I've been wanting to go to but wasn't sure how to get there. Seemed easy enough. The surrounding lakes/mountains are just breathtaking.

My spasming back is still sore but getting better. I did finish mowing this afternoon as scattered showers are predicted tomorrow so wanted to get that accomplished. The next few days are to be cooler and showery.

Soccer game 9AM tomorrow.
Thinking of you all and praying for my forum sister's needs.