Well, it has been a long time coming but I am back!  What a wonderful time I’ve had and I have returned to blog about teaching, living in California, and exploring the wonders of life.

Happy New Year 2011.!!

p.s. Go Badgers!!

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As spring came around, I pawed on the dirt of your den.  I jumped up and down and tried to yell through the earth that the days were warm.  We could go berry picking or run down by the crystal clear stream moving a mile a minute.  There would be fish to catch and bees to outrun.  There was no answer and no movement below.  Sadly, I hung my head and told myself that you were groggy and would eventually come out.  I ran in the meadow and played with my other friends but the sun grew hotter and still no you.  I even met new friends who showed me where the apples and blueberries grew.  They showed me new places to play and I spent many happy summer days in the deep grass with them.  Some days I thought about you but lately you barely crossed my mind.  Days were so happily spent with new friends that I never had a free moment.  As the days grew shorter, I began to look for a den of my own to spend it for the coldest months.  One day I crawled in and snuggled down when I heard your paws on the ground above me.  I thought I heard your voice call out to say, ”I am ready now, let’s go and play.”   Sleepiness came over me and I murmured, “Hey, you are too late,” and rolled over.

Why is it that no matter how hard we try, there is always someone who can do it better than ourselves?  For example, tomorrow we have to create a banner for our class to carry in for our Olympic Awards ceremony.  Walking into a Kindergarten class today, I saw the most amazing display that only an elementary teacher can pull off.  The lettering was glittered and the fish were drawn freehand with a photo of each child in each body of the fish.  Tonight, I came home to make my garden scene with a butterfly to represent each of my students.  I cut out hearts to make into petals for the flowers, the clouds and the sun with pointed rays.  Although I thought my banner was cute in a rudimentary sort of way, I was satisfied with it until I thought of the banner I saw today.  By comparison, well there was no comparison really.  I wondered why we compare ourselves to others.  There will always be someone funnier, cuter, happier, skinnier, or a better singer.  And then I thought of the book on my bed waiting for me and decided I was pretty happy about my banner.

-You know it’s going to be a good day when in the first few minutes of class conversation you have to google Jet Li and Bruce Lee.

-Water plus any playground activity jacks the thrill value to an different plane.

-The end of the year for a teacher is like moving house, having a deadline nearing with its paperwork unfinished, losing a beloved pet, losing a pet that scratches you awake at 2 a.m., and expecting an upcoming trip to a fabulous destination.

-One day you are waiting on the kids’ parents and then the next they are waiting on you.

-Kids are always pushing the boundaries,  like asking to go out for p.e. at 10:30 when we just came in from an athletic event that lasted the whole morning. 

-Friendships are made and lost at tetherball.

A storm was coming and the wind outside was blowing the clouds across the moon.  The last storm, took the lights out and we sat in the basement with candles playing cards.  I miss the rain, and equally, the lightening and thunder.  When a good downpour  (do we even use that expression in California?) comes to the Midwest, every living thing feels it, knows it.  It changes plans and stops traffic – have you ever used an overpass as shelter?  People run for cover as not to mess up their hair or clothes.  Children delight in it.  I remember laying in the grass when the sky opened up on me.  But it was also agony, waiting until the rain passed so my sister and I could go puddling.  Puddling is walking along the curb in the street barefoot against the rushing water passing to the storm drain.  Couples snuggle in doorways as the sheets of rain blanket them with privacy.  I want to see the lightening, counting seconds until the thunder comes.  Hide under covers to muffle the crack of the boom.  I remember my mother pulling me from a bath saying that lightening was coming and it wasn’t safe.  How do children learn that light travels faster than sound by counting the seconds between the lightening and thunder to determine the distance of the storm?  How do they know that water is a conductor of electricity.  For me it was early education.  I miss the rain.

I woke slightly, still lingering between darkness and the day.  For a short while, I felt I was in my childhood bed at home.  I heard the house awake with familiar morning sounds but it was more the feeling of home I had.  I had that safe, secure feeling of being with my family.  That is where I was.  The smells, sounds, behaviors; narrow and wide were here and I didn’t want to leave it.  I soon stared at the ceiling still with that feeling wondering whether to get up or stay.

about today’s court decision to uphold the ban on gay marriage from a Buddhist perspective…

“In a society where there is no fundamental respect for human  rights, reputation and standing are nothing.  The most important thing is whether we have genuine love and compassion for others.”

Discussions on Youth

D. Ikeda

“When you bow to a mirror, the reflected image bows back.”  (Gosho Zenshu)   ”People who respect others are respected by others in turn.  Those who are unstinting in their compassion and concern for others are also protected and supported by others.  Our environment is essentially a reflection of ourselves.”

speech 6-10-96 D. Ikeda

I found these entries in a cookbook sponsored by a hospital auxiliary from my hometown in northern Illinois.

I love many of the recipes in this book as they remind me of open houses and parties I attended when I was young.  But some of them are just plain weird, as you will see….

homemade cheeze whiz

twinkie cake

soda cracker torte

potato chip cookies

yummy cake

pepsi cake

Mississippi Mud cake

chocolate salad dressing cake

baby food sheet cake

chop suey casserole

broccoli cheez surprise

Dr. Pepper Punch

Coca-Cola Maid Rites

mock rueben

cherry, cola, and gelatin salad

Velveeta fudge

Scalloped pineapple

fake sour cream

It is a wonder we didn’t mutate our genes with these.

I kicked my books out of my bed last night.  They were keeping me up.