Thank You to Teachers

Today is World Teachers' Day and I am asking each of you to thank and remember those teachers who influenced you to become the person you are today.

World Teachers' Day is today. Celebrate with a teacher.

Mrs Brooks was my Kindergarten teacher. I was a precocious, outgoing and exuberant kid with boundless energy as a very young child (I calmed down and got introspective later in life). I have immense respect for anyone who was willing to take care of a classroom of kids just like me. The patience that Mrs Brooks exhibited with all of us while starting each of us on our journey through the educational system was almost saintly.

Kindergarten was a wonderful introduction to school. Everything looked rosy.

Mrs Brooks taught us right from wrong, how to work and play with others, and the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. She taught us finger painting, playing musical instruments (tambourines, triangles and drums) and how to share with others. Throughout the years that I spent in that school, during which she left teaching and joined the administrative staff as Vice Principal, I saw Mrs Brooks every day. When I had problems, it was to her that I turned for advice. I remember her clearly and with great love.

The one room schoolhouse was long gone when I went to school, but
even larger schools still can have a small school mentality.

I had a great third grade teacher, Mrs Melba, for two months. Then she left. I never knew why she left, but her substitute teacher was horrible. It was my first introduction to a teacher with whom I never reached rapport. She refused to recognize that I was reading at a high school level until my mother intervened to allow me to access any book in the school library. I'm quite sure that if physical punishment had still been permitted in the schools at that time, my hand would bear the scars today of multiple ruler strikes. My grades took a dip that year, fortunately rebounding in fourth grade.

I loved my elementary school (most of the time). It still functions as an
elementary school today and the building is still this beautiful
mix of colored brick.

In Junior High (what is now called Middle School) I had two teachers who impacted me, and I seemed to continue my good luck with teachers whose last names began with "B". I had a second Brooks, but this was Miss Brooks, a former airline stewardess from the early days who taught European History. Finally I had a teacher who wanted to relate to her students on a personal level and push them to achieve their best. I was in a new school and knew no-one, so when asked to write down what name I wanted to be called in her class, I chose the name I have gone by ever since. I left my past behind me with my old name and never looked back. The world was suddenly new and exciting, and through the stories and photographs of Miss Brooks I learned how wonderful other countries and their history could be.

Mr Bastien was the other Junior High teacher who impacted my life for years to come. He was in charge of the school orchestra and band. I had started playing the cello in fourth grade. Now, with several years of music under my fingers, I was starting to get serious about music as a possible career path. Mr Bastien was a double-bass player and had a great love for the orchestra. That came through in his interactions with his students. It was his positive reinforcement that pushed me to try out for City and State orchestral positions and he celebrated right alongside me when I was accepted. He was a finalist for Teacher of the Year when I was in my last year of school with him.

Do you have a memory of a favorite teacher that you could share? I'd love to hear it.

Congratulations to all teachers. You do an amazing job!

And I can't forget those teachers who are members of my f-list. There are some incredible teachers who I share my cyber-life with today and I pass this shout on to each of them.

You're amazing!

You're awesome!

You're making a positive impact on your students that will resonate throughout their lives!

YOU ROCK!

Happy Friday - Pics for your Weekend

Today is Friday and Chickie leaves for vacation on Sunday morning. She'll be gone throughout next week (yes, the sound you hear is me screaming in despair).  I'll be working a six-day shift and I'll be going crazy. Thank goodness I still have two days with her in the shop because I'd really be up a creek if she was away for longer than one week.

Anyone with a cat has had this happen as they've been packing
to go on vacation. I'll be taking care of Chickie's cat every morning
while she's out of town. 

I need relaxing photos today, so I'm happy to share the following grouping of beautiful pictures with all of you.

Of course I have to share a waterfall because I think they are among the most beautiful things on earth (or for that matter, on any other planet).

A hammock at oceanside? What could possibly be more relaxing? No oceans anywhere close to me here, but I can dream...

Yet another waterfall, although this is quite a different environment. Have you noticed how so many of these relaxing pictures feature water? The basic sound of water as it speaks to us appeals to us at a subconscious level.

I am a mountain girl even though they are now hundreds of miles away from my home in the land of many lakes. This mountain lake is a relaxing view for me.  Bundle up, though. This water is cold!

A stunning view is hard to beat. This large lake at sunrise holds the promise of an extraordinary day ahead. I do love this pic.

Have a wonderful Friday!

Wednesday Was So Fine...Now For A Good Thursday

Wednesday turned out to be hectic, I was off my rhythm and the errands kept multiplying, but I did get a lot done. I'm hoping that things will go smoothly today, that we'll make money at the shop (making money while helping our customers find the perfect craft component is our goal, after all), that we'll have a nice mix of returning customers and new people discovering us for the first time, and that I'll get some email responses from some queries I sent out yesterday in my in-box tonight.

I was a bit off my rhythm yesterday, having to run back and
forth several times. I wasn't as balanced as this lovely
young goat, that's for sure!

Yesterday started out happy. I went to my new coffeeshop location and my friend Ben was behind the counter. Call me happy. Although there were many baristas at the old location who I enjoyed talking to, Ben and I had started flying outside the boundaries of the "medium dark roast with classic oatmeal" road. We actually talked about vacation trips and I've recommended books to him in the past. He's a sweet young man and a very competent manager, so it was a great start to my day.

Look at these lovely patterns in the coffee foam. I am always amazed by
the artistry of some baristas. But since I get a black, brewed coffee, I
can only look at these from afar.

Heading over to the shop to get a new product out onto the sales floor before the day started, I worked for a couple of hours, then left for the post office. After dropping off my mail orders I was driving out of the lot and noticed some very nice HON office chairs next to the dumpsters out back. Checking to make sure that their pneumatic systems still worked, I flipped the seats down in my car and put two in to bring to the shop. I was hopeful that they could replace some other chairs we've been using that are falling apart. Unfortunately they won't work as well as I had hoped, but I have another place where they will fit in quite well, so free chairs - all good.

The chairs I got were similar to this one. I need
to see if I can remove the arms. If so, they will be
functional. If not, they should have stayed in the trash.

Continuing on my way, it was close to opening time at the comic shop and I wanted to see if any issues had been set aside for me. Yippee - two were waiting under my name. The Fall Comic Con is set for Saturday, but I have to work so we'll have to skip it. At least we made it to the Spring Con which goes through the weekend. On the way out of the parking lot I had to stop and admire the Lotus car parked at the end of the row. Such a beauty. I've seen it in the area once before, but anytime I see a great and rare car like this, I just drool. Me want! LOL.

The Lotus I saw was very similar to this one. Beautifully blue with the
top off because the day was sunny (hopefully it was protected when the rains
hit later in the evening). It's a real beauty. The driver was dressed
all in black, but his shoes had a strips of matching blue around their soles.
A totally SWEET ride!

Onward to the art supply store to pick up some gesso - a 40% off coupon is a wonderful thing. Then on to the grocer for lots of fruit and other edibles. Home, I started writing and editing, then when cleaning a few things to get ready to polish jewelry for the shop I realized I needed some things from Target. *sigh* So off again and over to Target where I exercised considerable restraint getting only the two things I needed. In and out in 15 minutes.

I refused to even take a cart, probably one of the
reasons why I only bought the dish detergent and
paper towels that I needed. Shopping carts are
dangerous!

Back home I polished some of the items in my Ionic Electrostatic polisher - works so well, I just love it. Then Aearwen phoned and we chatted about writing and life for an hour while I cleaned grapes and got dinner into the oven. Thank goodness for speaker phone options on my cell phone. I would be lost without the ability to still get things done when talking to my sister of the heart across the country.

I use a mid-size model of ionic cleaner for some of my
sterling silver products. It's one of the few cleaning options
that is actually safe for turquoise stones, so it speeds us
up a lot when we have a store of stuff to polish. I'll try to
get some polished every day now until Thanksgiving.

Did I get as much done as I wanted? No. I wanted to begin re-reading my NaNoWriMo novel from 2012 to get my head back into that universe before NaNo starts next month. I still need to do that. I'd like to print out what I already have written and I also want to switch my software over to Scrivener from WriteWay. I have Emails out to discover the best ways to effect such a transfer, although I suspect it won't be as easy as I want. Oh well...

Aearwen says that her lemon tree bears year-round and that
the huge fruits are almost sweet, not as tart as I'm used to. It
must be nice to live in such a mild climate.

Here's to a good Thursday for all of you!

Luxury is Extra Sleep

It's my day off today, I didn't have meetings or a crazy schedule staring me in the face (aside from the usual mania), so I actually allowed myself an extra half-hour of sleep this morning and that was REALLY NICE! I'm still tired, but it was like an extra "Welcome to fall" gift for myself. But...now I have to buckle down and get motivated.

Day One of the Bead Shop Hop went relatively smoothly and we had good response and good sales numbers. I hope this continues throughout the event. If the next twelve days follow as smoothly as Tuesday went, I'll be happy. Of course it is unlikely that will be the case, especially with Chickie on vacation next week, but a girl can hope. I'm going to take my day off today, though, and enjoy the fact that I only have to go to the post office and the grocer (after I do about an hour of work at the shop before we open). Only two errands on my list makes for an open day where I can write, clean some house, and have a relaxed talk with Aearwen this afternoon.

Fall has come and the leaves are turning fast. It is my favorite time of year and we should reach peak colors within two weeks. Although I am not looking forward to raking and dragging full tarps of dead leaves to my compost pile (it's a heck of a lot of work), I am looking forward to the season itself. But I'm also a bit frightened because...

Fall and the rich colors of the season just makes me happy. But oh that
work when the leaves finally fall down...

NaNoWriMo starts NEXT MONTH! Yes, November is creeping up on me and with the way my laptop hasn't been happy lately, this might be a very challenging time to continue my novel. NaNoWriMo for those who may not know is National Novel Writing Month which sets up a challenge to write 50,000 words during the month of November. I was successful last year with "A Face in the Window" part one, and I want to continue and (hopefully) finish the novel this year. I still have maps on my walls and research materials gathered that I want to put away. I want to get past the writing portion and into the editing part.

But NaNo plays total havoc with my schedule. It means that I swap my blog to the evening because my daily word count comes first. It also means that I don't get the full month for my word count the way most other authors do. Because I run a retail store, I have to be in full retail mode by Thanksgiving with the store stocked for holiday shoppers and the decorations, etc installed. It's my busiest time of the year and without the income from November/December, I can't afford to keep my doors open. So yes, it's my busiest time of the year professionally and, with NaNo added to the mix, also my busiest time of the year personally. Last year I managed to get my 50,000 done by November 18th but it wasn't easy. I need to start getting myself scheduled and psyched up for this year's push.

I've been using Write Way for my novels but I'm
seriously considering switching to Scribner instead. 

It's time to get into the thought process for novel writing instead of drabbles and shorter stories again, though. I need to read through what I've written up to this point and bring myself back into that universe. Actually, that should be rather fun because I like my characters and their story and want to bring them to the conclusion I've seen for several years and their own satisfying end.

I used a trial of Scrivener a year or so ago and liked it. I'm considering
switching over to this program instead of WriteWay. 

Now on to something shorter and easier, though. I need to cut five words from my latest drabble.... Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Bead Shop Hop Begins Today...OY!

What was I thinking! Why did I decide to participate in the Bead Shop Hop? It begins today and I feel completely unprepared for it because it is a completely new event, never done before in our area. I finally got the stickers to label game boards that are presented to us, but the chain I was supposed to get for the 10 free bracelets never arrived. *sigh*  I'll grab some chain from our stock instead and carry on. The basic hope I have is that I will gain some new customers from this event, but it will take all month to really have numbers on the success of the event or not. But I'm as ready as I can be...

I'm ready for the Bead Shop Hop...maybe...

So with the thought of the Hop in mind, I thought I would share pics of hoppers with all of you today.

Rabbit by Denis Curtiss

Of course the first hopping animal that comes to my mind is the rabbit. I have plenty of small, fluffy and twitchy rabbits living around my home and love watching them hop around the grass, eating and moving their large ears while they look out for predators.

Hopping kangaroos are so fun!

Of course, if I lived in Australia I might think of kangaroos first when thinking about animals that hop. Kangaroos are pretty awesome!

Frogs are famous for their hopping ability.

Love this image of a hopping frog. Did the dragonfly on the lily pad frighten the frog? Or is it lunch on a green plate instead?

Hopping mice - large back feet, small front ones.

Several desert areas of the world have a variety of hopping mouse species. So cute!

Hopping spiders. There are lots of species, but this was
particularly beautiful.

I know that some of you on my f-list don't like spiders. Sorry! But they can be beautiful and this lovely example is a star. From the jeweled eyes to the fluffy armlike pedipalps to the lovely little spikes on the legs, she's a real beauty.

Grasshoppers and locusts hop and fly. 

Small grasshoppers when they are the tiny green ones aren't a major problem, but the locust swarms of the past and even in the Bible could cause famine. I'll take my grasshoppers one at a time, thank you very much!

Startled animals and people often will hop as a reaction.

Finally, this startled ferret reminds us that we all hop sometimes, most often when we are startled or frightened. I hope your Tuesday goes well.

Renaissance Festival is Now Over For Another Year

Yesterday was the final day of Renaissance Festival for the 2013 season and it couldn't have been better weather. It started out cool enough for a cloak, and clutching hot coffee while sitting on a sunny bench was a real plus (as was a totally gorgeous pickle boy selling pickles from a barrel just down the hill from where I was sitting on my warm bench). Warming my heart with some eye candy is always equal to warming my hands with coffee :-)

Mac's Pub is where I buy my Guinness. As you can see, the sky was
unbroken blue and the day was mild. It actually got up to the upper 70's in
temps - stunning weather for the end of September.

It was Bar-B-Que competition weekend - three vendors had very tasty ribs for sale and six others were just participating in the competition itself. The ribs were wonderful and we totally pigged out, returning a second time later in the afternoon for another round of great ribs and some of Nitch's Kitchen's amazing banana cake with frosting to die for! I had several opportunities (OK, lots of opportunities) to walk by the pickle man. What can I say? He was gorgeous! See that bit of a pickle sign peering out from behind his arm? He would shake and shimmy that better than most belly dancers I've seen. He looked just as good from the side and the back as the front - total eye candy for my aging eyes. (I might be older, but I'm not dead yet.) OK, I admit I was obsessed - but good eye candy is always a plus on a perfect day at the Fest :-)

We decided to leave early. This is very unusual for us on last day - we usually stay for the fire show and the close down, see friends for the last time in the season, and slowly leave. When we close it down, we get home about 2 hours later or more after the lights go out because traffic is a real mess. We were tired and stuffed from food, so decided to leave around 4:00 p.m. That gave us the ability to be home in time for me to watch my Denver Broncos win another game (yippee) and DH to watch the tape of his Minnesota Vikings playing in London and, amazingly enough, they also won. So both of our teams did well. Of course, my team is at 4-0 and his is at 1-3, so there are some serious differences in standings.

The Special Events Pavilion is a central location for shows, dances, and
free beer and wine tasting events throughout the season. Three free
Guinness tasting events were held here on Sunday, but I decided to pass
even though I could have gotten in. DH isn't fond of Guinness and I
preferred to stay with him.

I have my chiropractor appointment in about an hour, so want to wrap this up. Have a great Monday!