Today is the last of our family birthdays for the year. I started it rolling in August, then Whit in September, Devon at the end of October and Mercer 6 days later. Unfortunately, that means he usually gets shortchanged because more energy goes into the girls’ days. We just went out for dinner and I promised him a head rub – if we don’t both fall asleep! This daylight savings switch always makes me sleepy early.
Weekend before last we stopped by the “Day of the Dead” family festival in Canoga Park where our Art Club kids were volunteering their face-painting skills. The Youth Art Center was filled with student creations, from masks to self-portrait photos to offrendas and really colorful skeleton shadow boxes. I snapped shots of the students at work, and also photographed the shiny bike twins above – beautiful chrome cruisers that sparkled in the sunset. Whit, eat your heart out!
November has lots of days off for me: from Veteran’s Day to an Art Educator conference to a field trip to the art museum, and finally the Wednesday before Thanksgiving which I always take off so we can head out camping. It will be Christmas before we know it!!
We have such a mix of weather in the fall that dressing is a daily challenge. On Wednesday last week it was raining and high in the 60’s then by Friday it was sunny and high in the low 90’s! One good part of autumn is the slow ripening of the pomegranates on our front yard tree. Some fruits are ripe in early September but most are just turning all the way red now in mid October. They are beautiful to look at and delicious to eat, but in between someone has the laborious task of opening and prying the tiny fruit-seeds out of the fibrous maze that hides them. I usually do 2 or 3 at a time since that takes about 40 minutes – then have a week’s supply of rosy gems for snacking on with plain yogurt – yum!
Here are two shots of Mercer’s from last Sunday’s wedding of Clayton and Carly in La Jolla. It was a lovely event in a charming setting, but I was still feeling too sad from the Saturday memorial to really enjoy the usual joy that weddings provide.
It’s chilly here this morning and finally feeling like fall – too crisp to wash my filthy car, but maybe later…Mercer had a good quick trip up to visit Devon at Santa Cruz. They attended the campus memorial for Austin, and Mercer got to see Devon’s apartment complex which has views of the ocean. She’s got all her classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays this quarter – lots of time off for a JOB!! Now just has to land one.
School is going OK for me – only foresee a few problem students. One with hostile attitude, and several with very low ability. A couple of the Academy students appear to not take any initiative so they will also become thorns in my productivity-centered curriculum. Not bad on the whole.
Tomorrow we are hosting a preview screening after school of the new season of the PBS series “art:21″ – hopefully with it right after school we’ll get a bigger attendance than in the past when we held it at 6 p.m.
And I thought I’d finished my grading yesterday until I remembered the digital projects that I have to grade on-screen or print out, so “sigh” – more grading today. Mercer is pooped from his trek north and not eager to go out, so less pressure on me to finish early. I think I may go for a bike ride in the crisp morning air before I buckle down to business…
Whitney made an unexpected visit home this week – always wonderful to see her, but this time the reason was a heartbreaking death. Our dear friends the Plummers lost their 20-year old son in a hiking accident in Yosemite last Sunday. It was a terrible loss, a crushing shock, a very sad tragedy beyond words or comprehension. We had our kids the same years and learned parenting together, the kids becoming like California cousins, sharing birthday parties and special occasions. Austin went to UC Santa Cruz in the same year with Devon, but he had more similar passions to Whitney: biking, music, cooking, and unique personal style. From the shared memories of his friends at the memorial yesterday, a picture of a truly remarkable renaissance young man with an old soul emerged. I wish I had known him better. I don’t know how Renee and Michael will bear the pain in the coming years.
I was doing so well keeping up my new blog this summer, but when I flew off to Chicago August 25, I took a break from ether-journaling. I did take lots of photos, however, and will list here the links to my Picassa albums for a wonderful almost two week trip…
The composite shots above are from my last stop September 6th in Mechanicsville, VA, before I flew home to LA. That’s Mama (89.5) on the left laughing at our antics, then Daddy (90) in his kitchen fixing watermelon for us, then his just finished knitting project, and the knitter modeling his cold weather chapeau while I mime the chills. Daddy returned to knitting, a skill he learned in the mid-sixties while he was in the hospital for an extended stay, because he thought it would be good therapy for his recent hand tremors. He reports an improvement, and is now attempting to get a knit scarf going, but is not taking any orders for his output yet!
Here are the links to photos – it was a great trip, from spending time with Whitney in Chicago, to my high school 40th reunion in Virginia, to our 5-day art retreat in the Smoky Mountains – great memories to last me through the school year. If they don’t link when you click, just copy/paste into your browser address line:
http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/Chicago09Tuesday#
http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/Chicago82609#
http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/ChicagoDay3#
http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/RoadrunnerReunion#
http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/SmokyMountainScenics#
http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/SmokeyFamilyReunion#
http://picasaweb.google.com/cathy.tyler/SmokyMountainArtRetreat?authkey=Gv1sRgCNmn7ZCIyKXqRA&feat=email#
Whit’s friend Marjorie was so kind to come over and cut Devon’s hair for her – it’s really like cutting 2-3 heads since her hair is unbelievably thick! The results are so cute – shorter than Devon had wanted, but her hair grows so fast it will be perfect in a couple weeks. She had to go back up to Santa Cruz today, and tomorrow I fly to Chicago – yippee! Vacation at the end of summer break – feels rather desperate and scarey knowing I’ll come back right into school, but hopefully that will inspire thorough recreation while I’m gone…
Summer is a unique refuge for teachers, one that feels vast at the beginning and so short towards the end. I always launch into vacation with a list of what I want to do, and often even keep a log of daily activities. This summer – my 7th “teacher refuge” – felt less like a project and more like a respite than any before. I chalk that up to my growing experience in the profession and a conscious choice to focus on the freedom this time. I know this school year will be harder in many ways as the budget cuts increase class size from the usual 25-35 to 43 students packed into my 36-seat room. We also have three new administrators whose styles and agendas are yet to be discovered – that adds to the edginess. And once again I am teaching a new magnet art history course instead of my familiar 12th grade version, which means relearning in advance of teaching each day’s images (this curriculum is what I studied first year of college back in the dark ages). So I decided to be like Scarlett this summer – “I can’t think about that right now, if I do I’ll go crazy…”
On a lighter note, Monday was my birthday and we had a nice day out in the desert with BJ - hot but with a cooling swim in her pool. And Tuesday Devon baked me a birthday cake! I’m off to a wedding shower this afternoon, and Tuesday I fly east, but more on that trip later 
Today six of us ladies ventured over to the Norton Simon museum in Pasadena for some shared art appreciation. We started with the 17th c. Dutch and French and moved forward into the 20th century by way of Degas and the Impressionists. We all selected different works as our favorites as we relaxed in the gardens over refreshments – Flo liked the Degas, Karen the Van Gogh tree, I named the Rembrandts. Paula had suggested this venture and we were all happy that it came together on such a lovely summer afternoon. And Devon and Madeleine found lots to giggle over, as usual.
This morning we had to do a phone replacement trip to Best Buy – after I washed my phone with the laundry Friday! Devon also needed a new phone so we both got spiffy devices which means I’ll be trying to figure mine out for the next month while Devon was up to speed in two seconds!
Tomorrow we’re going out to see BJ for my birthday – hopefully it will be nice and moderate temps like we’ve been having here. And in just a week I’ll be flying east for vacation – gotta get some reunion duds…
It’s been a long week of so-called vacation, spent instead of at the beach at school UPGRADING STUDENT LAPTOPS! We didn’t do any maintenance on them last summer and it was now or never. When school starts, there is never time or energy. And at least we have had four great student volunteers slaving alongside us three teachers, and the results will be less hassles and crashes during the semester. With class size increased to 43 students, any way to lessen stress will be vital to my sanity… Should finish up the upgrade project by midday tomorrow. Just wish we got paid for these hours!!
On a happier note, Devon flies down Saturday for a last chance to see Madeleine week before fall semester. We may go to the Norton Simon Sunday with several ladies, and are talking about maybe doing a day trip to see BJ on Monday for my birthday. I need to get out of town! The 25th I leave for Chicago and Virginia, so I can’t wait for that end-of-summer treat
Meanwhile I have to fit in two freelance CD packages – so I guess it’s good I’ve been relaxing a good bit this summer. I’ve missed my daily bike rides this week with the early mornings at school – that 2-wheel exercise is a great spirit lifter.
We wanted to get out and about somewhere today and Charlie Ryan was tired of being on his own with Rusty (Donna is back East), so we three caught the metro downtown and did a wander. We had no particular destination in mind, but got off at Pershing Square and headed towards the old movie palace area along Broadway. None of the impressive theaters still show movies, and the street level is mostly trashy with cheap shops and barkers. But when you look up, the signs and ornamentation are still beautiful, and the detailing is amazing. I snapped lots of shots, as did Mercer, then we rested our feet while we had yummy French dip sandwiches at Cole’s, another historic restaurant that claims to have introduced that signature treat – disputed of course by Phillipe’s French Dip, over by Union Station.
After refueling, we walked to the historic Bradbury building which I’d never been inside, then up to the Central Library, another beautiful building with many murals and unique architectural details. We did a lot of walking!! See more photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/dk.mercer/DowntownLA#
I washed my car this morning – it was almost too dirty to drive – and did my regular bike ride. Mercer has been joining me most days, so we get some exercise and see what’s going on in the neighborhood. Tomorrow I’m going into school to start computer updating – we have about 75-80 laptops for 3 classrooms that need to have CS3 installed and the older versions taken off. Aazam and Gabby will join me, and they’ve drafted some students to help, so hopefully we’ll make good progress.
