My Buddy Rori

Almost two years ago, I blogged about my nephew Mikey and his many facial expressions. Now his sister Rori, two years older and wiser, has her own set of a hundred faces that I just adore!

Round Robin Photo Challenge: Broken

The challenge: "show us something broken, maybe even beautifully broken. And if you fix that thing that was broken, show us how it looks now."

I traveled to Grafton, a ghost town in the process of being restored.  Lucky for me, there was a church activity there so I had permission to visit, and there were plenty of "beautifully broken" things still around.

The next two aren't actually broken things, but I liked the way the light broke through the darkness (Sorry if I'm being overly dramatic).  It also added to the spooky, lonely feeling of the place.

Now don't forget to check out the photos of other Round Robin Photo Challenge participants!

Massachusetts A - Z

During my recent family vacation to Massachusetts, my dad, sister and I offered each other photo challenges.  Mine was A-Z. Some of these pictures were taken with a letter in mind. Others were assigned to a letter afterward. Enjoy!

A - Alleyways and streets which demand exploration  (Boston)                                 

B - Boston, a modern city with history around every corner

      C - Clover fields, cranberry bogs, and old cemeteries pop up unexpectedly (Plimoth Plantation; Boston)

  D - Dahlias and so many other beautiful flowers everywhere (Heritage Museum and Gardens in Sandwich)

E - The 'Everyman' calls Massachusetts home (Rockport)

F - Foggy mornings and afternoons in the salty sea air (Rockport)

G - Generations of family members loving and learning from each other 

(Grandma and great-granddaughter Claire)

H - New England's Holocaust Memorial (Boston)

I - The luck of the IRISH for the NBA finals in downtown Boston

J - Jetty's sometimes lead you to what's beyond the fog (Provincetown, at the tip of Cape Cod)

K - Knot-tying was a must to sail the seas to the Americas (Mayflower replica, Plymouth)

L - Lobster, and the means by which it ends up on my plate!

M - Motif #1, the most painted structure in New England, in Rockport

N - Nevermore (my nod to Poe, who was born in Boston)

O - Ocean breezes, sounds, and sea life (Provincetown)

P - Patriots, alive and long dead (Sturtevant Cemetary, est 1728, Halifax)

Q - Quincey Market, along the Freedom Trail at Faneuil Hall in Boston

R - Red Sox baseball at home in Fenway Park (Boston)

S - Skiffs lined up to take their owners to their fishing boats in Rockport

T - Taking the T is the easiest way to get around the city.

U - Unpretentious; there isn't the pomp and glitz of Europe, but America's past and present are nevertheless amazing and inspiring (Wampenog Village, Plimoth Plantation)

V - Villages; from living history museums to all of the little towns we drove through during our comings and goings, small-town is the way to go (English Settlement, Plimoth Plantation)

W- Whethered by cold winters and hot, humid summers, paint doesn't stand a chance (Fenway Park grandstand seating, Boston)

X - Xanadu, a place of beauty.  There is a lot of it to be found in this glorious state (Rockport storefront)

Y - Reminders of Years gone by, as well as how far we've come as a nation and people.

Z - Zest of life and vernacular, seasoned air, bustling traffic - however you choose to define this word, just look around you - Massachusetts has it!

Another School Year Ends

And what a year it was! I get nostalgic at the end of every school year - thinking about all that the graduating seniors have ahead of them (and being a bit jealous), having to say goodbye to some that I wish you could keep around forever, even feeling a pang of sadness that some of my favorites of the year will be in other parts of the building and I won't see them often if at all. High school is this weird social experiment where a bunch of students of all interests, maturity levels, and abilities are thrown into a classroom together for what sometimes seems to be too long to humanly endure each other, but that same length of time that could push a person over sanity's edge is the same length of time to really start caring about these kids. But that dynamic that develops in the classroom changes when I don't see them every day, when I don't have to sit in the same room with them all and hope for the best on the worst of days. Another group will come along to fill in the empty space, but I am forever changed by the ones that were there before. Here's to another fun year filled with great experiences and students!

Helping a former student ask a girl to homecoming ("I'd 'P' my pants if you would go to the dance with me.")

Danna, Ann and I watching while our students play outdoor games.

All year I've had a website that I devotedly updated with each day's assignments, activities, what needed to be turned in, and downloadable assignments. I quickly discovered after adding a visit counter to my site that I was the only one looking at it when I was updating it! When my students would have excuses as to why they didn't know about an assignment because they were absent, I would ask them if they were checking the website. The always said no. (I asked them a lot.) I would remind them to be checking the site. They still didn't

On the very last day of school, a few students from my A-2 class came in and told me to pull up the website. STRANGE! When I got there, I just started giggling. A few of them got together and spent their night going to my website so that the visitor counter read 999. When I pulled it up, I was visitor 1000. I gotta love 'em for...something!

A few students in my B-3 class and I would discuss...ok, complain about the final season of LOST. This was their gift to me on the last day of school.

These two were my shadows most of the year. I'll miss them, but I have a feeling I'm not rid of them just yet.

I don't know if this is a joke or a compliment, but either way it's hilarious!

I've commented many a time about how my students razz me for being a GB Packer fan. My B-4 class was my naughtiest this year, so when I walked in a few minutes late one day and they were dead silent and all staring at me, I knew something was up. Oh, how I know my students!

A few students (from B-4, nonetheless) stole a dry erase marker and wrote encouraging and silly notes all over my car windows. I didn't notice this one until I was almost home. And how right they are.