Avocados, friends, and the end of summer

I was finally able to get together with a good friend of mine for lunch the other day. Cathy and I have been trying to find a time when we could meet for lunch all summer long, but many things have kept us from doing that. We went to a small litttle sandwich shop that is not far from my house. The people there are really nice and attentive to everyone. The food is good, too.
 It is always nice to get together with a good friend, whether it is for lunch, to go to the beach, or just to sit and talk.
My new granddaughter is doing great. She has grown two inches and gained almost two pounds since her birth four weeks ago! She and her big sister are the lights of my life!!
I found a 'new' food that I just love - the Avocado!  I was introduced to avocados when my first granddaughter started eating regular food, versus just breast milk. At the time, I didn't exactly crave them. I enjoyed their 'nutty' taste, but I didn't really buy them for myself.  This spring, I decided to try out the avocado again. I LOVE AVOCADOS!! I will eat a whole one in a minute!~ My son told me that an avocado is called a 'super food', so that made them even better!  After doing some research on avocados, I found out that they are really good for controlling cholesterol, so that is a big bonus. They taste good, AND they are food for you.  Some people think they have too much fat in them. Well, they have the good kind of fat, not the bad kind. I am going to post a neat link here to show you what I mean. 
We have only four more days of summer around here. We begin our school year this Friday. I think it is a bit strange to begin a year on a Friday! Then, the students arrive the next Thursday to begin their school year. That is a bit strange, too. Whatever happened to starting something new on a MONDAY??!!
I have not been to the beach this whole summer. Other than a quick trip to show my friends the lighthouse, I haven't driven to the ocean at all. Now that is a really strange happening!  Lots of things have been going on, though, and I just haven't been able to make it to the beach. 
I am looking forward to a new year in a new classroom. I am very excited to have a new room with BIG windows for the sunshine to enter the room. My classroom also has a door to the outside, so that my students can go right out onto the playground. I am really going to enjoy the bright sunshine this year. I believe that the sunlight is important for student emotions, attention spans, overall wellness, and cognitive functioning. So, I am gearing up for a successful, fun, energized, enjoyable year in kindergarten!!
As promised, here is the link to the wonders of the avocado!!
Happy "Avocadoing"!! haha

http://www.californiaavocado.com

Old Friends

 Dawn and Dewilla, friends since October 1968 when I moved to Spangdahlem, Germany
Daddy and Mamma came to the four of us one day to let us know we were moving again. We were living in Charleston, South Carolina at the time. I remember them saying, "We have a great birthday present for you. We are moving to Germany on your birthday!" Wow! My thirteenth birthday was going to be celebrated by a trip to GERMANY!
I met Dawn when I got to my new eighth grade class, and we have been friends ever since then. Mamma called us Mutt and Jeff, because Dawn is tall and I am short. Apparently, there was some sort of comedy team by that name in my Mamma's younger days, and she always used that expression to describe friends like us.
We were facing the sun for our pictures. Dawn had on sunglasses, so the sun didn't bother her eyes. My eyes were watering, and I was squinting, so Dawn fixed that. While we were waiting for Kent to snap the picture, she 'shaded' my eyes for me! HA!
Dawn and Kent came to see me this past weekend. Their visit was wonderful. She actually found a neat little restaurant online for us to visit that I never had heard of, and it is actually in my neighborhood! If you are ever in Savannah, try Joe's Homemade Cafe and Bakery. They have been named the number one caterer in Savannah, too. The place only seats ten people, but the food is terrific. We actually went there two days in a row! The first day was just the two of us. Then, we took Kent along the second day to get him all filled up with great food before their trip back home.
My daughter suggested we go to Pearle's Seafood Grille Sunday night, and it as wonderful. I do not eat seafood, so I had a really terrific chicken and pasta dish. Dawn had Rainbow Trout, and Kent had Salmon. They said their food was good, too. This resaurant is located right on the water, with a terrific view.  Dawn is of Greek heritage, so of course we had to go to the Olympia Cafe on River Street for supper one night! Wow! It was awesome. My whole family went to enjoy the great food. I was very surprised when Dawn started speaking in GREEK to the owner, when he came by our table for a little chat. I think he was impressed, too! He enjoyed talking to her. The food was great, but the company was even better.

 On Tuesday, we took a trip down to see the Tybee Lighthouse. Unfortunately, the place was closed. We couldn't get up close to it, but we got a lot of pictures of it in the background. The lighthouse is plenty big enough to be included in pictures from quite a distance away. We stood outside the gate for the pictures. You can see it from the beach, too, and get great pictures of it in the background.
  Then, we walked over to the actual beach for a couple of pictures.

Dawn got this great one of the sea oats.

I really enjoyed our visit! Thanks, Kent, for driving Dawn 'up' here to Savannah! You both are always so generous of your time and love. Thanks for being my 'old' friends.

Forever Friends!!!!!!

It's been a while...

I have been away from my blog for quite a while. Many things have been going on in my world, and blogging just wasn't one of the things that I was able to accomplish on a regular basis.

I had a terrific year teaching kindergarten. I have always enjoyed teaching the younger students, whether it was in music, drama, or gifted education, but this year I got to focus just on the kindergarten curriculum itself. The year started out crazy, with my car running over my leg on the second day of teaching kindergarten! I was so excited to be teaching kindergarten that I got to school at 7 am the first two days, (which is something unheard of for me!). I parked in a funny position, so I got out to re-park. After re-parking, I got out to check the space. My car started rolling backwards, and I thought that I could 'catch' it like they do in the movies. The car knocked me down and ran over my leg! OUCH! I hit my head hard on the pavement and was knocked out. Whew! That crazy car incident put me out of work for a couple of weeks. I was supposed to stay out longer, but I was anxious to get to work. Needless to say, I was in a LOT of pain for quite a while, with a swollen leg and 'stuff' like that. I muddled on through it, though.

The children in my class were wonderful, all twenty-three of them. I had a mixture of personalities that made for some very interesting days. Three of my students suffered from tragedies this year. The first was a young boy whose 23 year old mother passed away from that horrid disease called cancer. That little boy is so sweet, but he had to deal with many things this year in his life. During the winter, there were several very cold days and nights. On one such night, there was a house fire in which two little boys lost their lives. One of them was a student in my room, and the other was his little brother. That incident had me very upset for the rest of the year. It was a very difficult time for his family and for our school. Not long after that fire, another student's home caught fire. This time, however, there were no fatalities. The school helped both families with monetary donations to help them get back on their feet. My first year back in the classroom was definitely one filled with many trials, but also many joys. I say my first year back in the classroom, because I have been a 'resource' teacher for 18 years teaching gifted education. I love teaching gifted students, but I was ready to have my own classroom again. I truly believe that God put me in my particular room with my particular students for a reason, and I devoted my days to making sure that each and every one of those little ones were taken care of and loved each day.

The kindergarten curriculum is much different than it used to be, in that they are required to learn many things that used to be taught in first grade. Also, the new Common Core curriculum is difficult for them. The testing situation is rather ridiculous, too. We must test the children each week on letter sounds, words, and math. The testing process is something that I believe is just too-too much for these young children. Actually, there is way too much testing going on in all grade levels these days. There is a new program developed by the government called Race to the Top that requires educators to test a lot, in order for the 'boards of educations' to receive lots of money. Before this program, there was something called No Child Left Behind, which also required lots of testing as a requirement for dollars that were given to school systems. So, the real reason all of the testing is done in any school system is for the dollars - $$$$, NOT for the children. That is my rant, a short one compared to my normal rant, but there it is.

On the home front, I have been enjoying my darling little granddaughter who turned 2 this year. She is amazing. She is very smart, knows her numbers and letters, and talks all the time. She even uses pronouns correctly, which is an amazing feat in itself!!  We welcomed little girl a week ago, and she is truly wonderful! I am so blessed to have two adorable little granddaughters to brighten my days!

My 92 year old Daddy passed away three weeks ago. He had been fighting a battle with congestive heart failure. He was a brave old soldier and mountain man, strong as he could be, but he finally lost the battle and went to be with my sweet Mamma in heaven. I love and miss him very much. Daddy had been living with me for two years, so it is difficult to roam around the house without him being in the living room watching Fox news or old Westerns on TV. I actually got to where I kind of enjoyed some of those news shows, believe it or not!  I still watch the Westerns, because I love old westerns! Movies and television shows like those are not made anymore, unfortunately.

I am not posting any pictures today. I am just writing. Take care, and best wishes to whoever might find this little blog of mine.