Quetzalcoatl-
Mayan god of morning,
Plumed serpent prophecies
That floundered,
Set off on a new path of discovery
Across the dawn of 2013.

Go Vikings!

Family
Like pickets on the fence
Holding each other up
And keeping us safe within.

Powdered sugar trees
with Icy layers
On the ground
Chocolate colored birds
Alight on cinnamon branches...
Seeing the world
Through too many Holiday treats.

Truth is as we find it
Not as we make it.

Trumpeter Swans

At Albertville

And Happy New Year

what a difference a year makes...

Merry Christmas to all...

Christmas lights

At Phalen

Anger seeps out
Leaving a hole
A cavity where love can live
A soul to refill.

Writing resumes

Laughter and tears
Ho ho ho and boo hoo hoo
Wishes and dreams
Last Christmas with my class.

Singing Christmas Carols

We wish you a Merry Christmas

And a Happy New Year!

A dark and dreary Monday-
Beginning of the week.
Looking forward to Christmas
To lift the gloom-
Fill our heads with sugar plums
And the Joy of the season!

My whole life
Has been wrapped up
In kids.
Looking to the past
I see their future.
It's always been about
Looking ahead.
Dreaming, working, focusing
on what they will become
With what we could provide.
So much potential
So much to look forward to
So much of tomorrow
In today.

What can you say...
You can only smile at a child
Through your tears
Give them an extra hug
And hold on tight
To dreams
Of a brighter future.

With smiles full of mirth

And eyes mirroring the wonder of life

How could you hurt a child... 

The church of people
Bound by compassion
Sharing stories
And helping kids.
The school of thought
Building community
Creating a place
Where everyone can live.

12/12/12

Snow fall
On a December Day
We shouldn't be surprised
Yet marvel at the wonder.

Smiles that make your day!

Walking

In a Winter

Wonderland?

A moral platitude
A sound byte saying
Lacks the heart and soul
Of the people
But plays better
In the news.

TGIF

Down the rabbit hole
Choose your own adventure
Lost in space
Incredible journeys
Reading with the kids.

In between
The week
In between
colds
In between
Seasons
In between
Classes
In between
Sadness and joy
Be in the moment.

My whole teaching life is wrapped up in this neighborhood.
In June of 1976 my grandma, who lived across the street from St Francis de Sales told me about an opening in the school. I took the bus after school to her house, changed into my “interview outfit” and met with Sister Annabelle.
The care and compassion and love for this school was instilled in me early on from the wonderful people I worked with and the families I came to know.
Miss Mayer, Mrs Kunik, Diana Komarek were all co-workers and friends, along with many others through the years. I loved working with generations of families and felt their love and sense of community.
The ideals of hard work and responsibility were important components of learning at SFSJU. Students learned to do their best and be empowered to create a better future. I hope I helped them learn to love learning and themselves.
I will be sad to leave here, but am heartened by the knowledge that we made a difference. Our presence in the neighborhood touched many lives and will be felt even when we're gone.

Going to the dogs

Meandering down Grand

At Grand Meander

After over 125 years

Countless children blessed with the love and support 

Of W7th families and teachers

This will be our last year...

TGIF

http://www.sandiegozoo.org/pandacam/

Being child like
Is nothing like childish.
Being joyful
In the moment
Without fear
Is what we want
Our children to be.

Sunshine on my shoulder
Makes me wish
I were somewhere warm...

Update/Outdate
Tweet
Linkedin
Facebook-
Verbs of nouns
I don't have time for.
Text
Phone
email
I'm just getting a handle
On how to communicate
Without having to say anything.

I am a cat couch-
They think my lap is
A soft cushion
For their naps.
So I guess that means
More nap time for me.

Happy Post Thanksgiving

And Steve's Birthday!              

Waiting and anxiety go together
You worry about what may happen
While you wonder what will be.
You can't enjoy the moment
If the next one is on your mind.

Thankful for the day
To be thankful for
All the days
And all the friends
And all the time
To tell them
Thanks!

Working on my blog
I forgot to do my blog.
Remembering a year ago
I forgot the present.

A mini vacation
A moment in mind
When the sun
Magnified through the window
Becomes a tropical beach
And the desks fade a way
To touch sand.
Coming back
Refreshed to see
Smiling faces
Like shells on the shore.

Conferences-
The praise and gratitude
Of the majority
Should make up for
The craziness of the few.
Still it's hard to accept.

As the season rushes to Winter
Mice burrow in falls blanket of leaves
Bugs scuttle through cracks to warm
Squirrels sprawl on rooftops
Sunbathing one last time.

When I wake up
With aches and pains
And wonder what it would be like
To not wake up with aches and pains
I have to remember
How lucky I am
To wake up.

November

Post Halloween

And pre Christmas

Between the sugar

And the presents holiday

Holding our breath

And giving thanks.

Mark Weber & his second grade teacher-

Our thoughts and prayers are with him

And his family.

Focusing on the details
Like a Serrault painting
You get lost in the dots
And miss the big picture.

Yesterday
It was Alaska-
Bone chilling cold and frozen fingertips.
Today
It was the desert-
Unlayering to short sleeves
And sweat.
School can be a challenge
Surviving a broken thermostat
And hot flashes.

Bruce!

Drugs are our friend
In spite of a gloomy Sunday
Looking forward to Springsteen
And no headache...

Migraine Madness
The panic when
The pill doesn't work
And the headache pounds
Increasing the tension
Is the thought
Will this ever stop.

The relief of a Friday
And knowing you have the whole weekend
To sleep....

Energy leaking out of the speakers
Dancing across the bobbing heads
Of the devout flock.
Hands raised in joy and praise
Feet tapping to the primal beat
Underscoring catchy riffs and raps.
Sending back the sound
As blessing on the communion
Of the concert.

The times they are a changin'
With Bob Dylan tonight

"This is it America..."
The headlines announced this morning...
I wonder what they will say tomorrow...

One of the nice thing about school-
Each quarter you get to start over.
New beginnings
New growth
Sprouting from the seeds planted.
A way to learn from your mistakes
And try again.
No regrets
No worries
No problem.
Too bad we don't all live that way.

I've always thought
"Like a kid in a candy store"
More aptly describes
Being in the library.
All the books you can devour
For free
And no calories!

Back in time through
MIA

The let down after the celebration
Is hard enough for us-
The summer doldrums
The New Years hangover.
But imagine the anticlimactic fall
After the sugar rush of Halloween-
It's time to start thinking of Christmas!

The day after-
Too much sugar
Too much excitement
Not enough sleep
Not enough patience
For the day after Halloween.

Before

And after

 Our own former student, Bobby, in the CDH play

Free to Be You and Me!

Dog Days!

An uneventful day
Is an event to celebrate.
A day devoted to nothing more ambitious
Than finishing the Sunday paper
Calls for confetti.
Waking up and rolling over
To lounge away the morning
Deserves a parade.
A lazy Sunday
At the end of the month
Should be a National Holiday!

Golden leaves
Like coins on branches
Paying for the luxury of life.
Shaken loose
The Currency of autumn
Left as interest.

TGIF

Sadako's Dreams
"Peace Crane,
I will write peace
On your wings
And you will fly
All over the world."

Pepin  Dreams

The magic of the moment
The clouds touch the lake
Flicking raindrops
Off the water
Like sweat off the brow.
The moment
When the sun touches
The trees and sparks a fire
In autumn colors
Fading to the shore.
The moment
Of sheer silence
When the ripple of the water
Is the volume of the day.
The moment of magic
When you realize
You're in the moment
And it's magic.

A warm grey day,
Tropical autumn,
The reds and yellows
Washed out by the misty film
Of silken rain.
Like a cozy cocoon
Keeping us safe
And growing memories
for the long months ahead.

The Monday after-
No sleeping in
No lingering over breakfast
No back to bed
No cat naps
Monday's at a much faster pace
After a long weekend.

2 beauties

And the beast?

Check out Gary's horns...

Congratulations Amy

On your Almanac reading!

Ghost trees
Unfleshed by October
Leaves ripped from their quivering limbs
Winds howling in protest
A skeleton parade
Along the highway.

MEA days
My Enjoyable Alternatives

Let's go to Lake City...

Beauty and the Beast
With my beautiful niece, Jenny

Our baby panda took his first steps.

They grow up so fast!

Short leash
Short temper
Short on patience
Short on money
Short week...

A look around the room reveals us
As we imagine ourselves
Not as we are.
Young and blond not fading grey.
Tall and strong
Not stooped and wavering.
Smart and witty
Not trying to remember
Days we can't forget
Memories that made us.

A rainy reminiscing sort of day
Good for a forty year reunion

Black and white in a mysterious pattern

A reflection of our own humanity

In the bond of mother and son
San Diego Zoo.org

Thursday's sun dipping behind the trees
Shading the slanting light
Through my classroom window
It's amazing how peaceful it is here
After school.

Hump Day
Like a camel
driving to the oasis
The weekend
Can't come fast enough.

Shapes of trees
Like a deck of cards
Suits in shades of red
Fanned out like a winning hand
A royal flush against the sky.

Monday morning
Back on track
Routine breaks the weekend experience
And makes you appreciate
The sublime.

Sun makes all the difference.

With a blue background
The trees don't look so dead.
Air warmed by sunlight
Is inhaled as perfume
Rather than shivers.
Leaves catching the breeze
Seem to dance
Instead of swan dive.
Sunday sky full of sunshine
Sings Amen
Before we hibernate.

How is it
We forget fall every year
But it remembers us?
It remembers
Its palate of colors
Getting each vivid hue right.
It knows when to turn
The thermostat down for the night
And cool for the day.
It remembers to move the sunset
Just a little to the left
And shine the harvest moon.
It remembers to remind us
Its predicable
Even if we forget.

Returning
Like a tongue bothering
An empty socket,
Searching
For the possibility
Of a migraine.

Shelving books at the library
Gives one a false sense of stability.
Creating order out of chaos
Is only a momentary lapse
In the rush of the day.

Because of Winn Dixie
Just like a Littmus Lozenge
A story sweet
but sad.
Just like our kids lives
Hopeful
In spite of everything.

The sun makes everything better-
Dull grey becomes
Bluer sky
Drab brown becomes
More vivid leaves
My mood becomes
Warm as the sunshine!

I'm not sure
What's going to come out of my mouth.
All the anxious images welling up
Spilling over into language.
Bite your tongue
Is a good refrain
To keep the acid reflux of angry words
From spilling out
And poisoning the paper.

Amazing maze of autumn

Congratulations Debbie and Shane!

And Cathy, you looked beautiful too! 

Awash with relief
If you don't drown
In the tidal wave
It washes everything away.

We all have things
That weigh on our souls
The flutter in our stomach
That causes unrest
The dread in our hearts
Like lead in our feet.
We all have things
Throughout the day
That float to the surface
And disturb our thoughts.
But we also have those things
That cause us joy
And let us rise above
The fray
And make us smile.

Capture the sun

Reflected back

In all its glory

Rays of autumn.

Our Panda baby and his mom

From the San Diego Zoo

We were there when he was born

And have been following him ever since.

My class wants to name him

Sunny Bamboo.

Fall didn't forget us
The dead brown leaves
Were only a ploy
To make us long
For autumn's splendor
She surprised us
With a late visit.

Fall came after all...

Everybody loves somebody sometime

A grey dull day
Hopelessness creeps in
Looking for a sunny moment
To break the gloom.
Hoping for
Rainbows and unicorns:-)

Late to school
Makes the kids crazy.
Whatever happened at home
To get them wound up
They bring with them
To math class-
Numbers run through their heads
Counting change
Becomes a worry if there's enough
Food for supper.
In reading class
Their forgotten glasses
And work left at dad's
Causes problems at mom's tonight.
Social studies maps
Are all over the city
Very few neighborhood schools anymore.
It's only in Religion
Where we can relax
And talk of love and peace
And how special they all are.

Leaves careening
Off their branches
From green vitality
To brown scraps
In a moment
Of gusty wind.
Fall's song of the season.

School Hallways

Acting unsure

Unsure how to react.
Eyes looking past
Not able to see.
Hallways length
Worlds apart.
Misunderstanding
Standing between us.

Monday
Stretching
Reaching
Dancing
Mind leaves the body
As feet leave the floor
Happy to be back
To Jazzercize

To see possibilities
In dying leaves
To treasure the red
Of fall
To recognize
The hope in the decay
To survive
The change
Of seasons.

Don't worry
If you close your eyes
They won't see you.
Don't speak
And your thoughts
Don't have to take shape.
Don't listen
And it isn't real.
Don't feel
And you can slide
Into oblivion.

Congratulations, Amy!

Picture pretty

Degideos with Diana and Bob

And friends