Death, Spring, Reflections

How amazing death is; it's not that I'm enthusiastic about it; it is that I am amazed by it.  For some death becomes a long process; for others death comes quickly and succinctly. Death is efficient. Death leaves an empty place at the table, and silence replaces soft whispers.

My father-in-law, aged 96, passed away on February 21, 2011, and my mother-in-law, aged 94, on May 7, 2011.  Both lived full, vibrant lives, and enjoyed raising their children and their grandchildren.  They were married for 70 years.

God Bless Them...

Hello, Spring!

Wow!  I think the field of Daffodils has come and gone!  The trees around here have blossomed, budded, and leaved. The mountains are beautiful, pristine, and green--the early green of Spring.  Classes are ending soon in finals. I am proud of the accomplishments of my students; many of them have improved their writing greatly.  And, I will see some of them next semester, too.  For now, most is well, and could I ask for more?!

Laughing at myself

I have to laugh at myself! I am so eager to have a follower for my blog!  I don't want to be world famous, just want to have one follower.  And, then I realized that I have a follower--me.  I follow myself which is a good thing.

I, too, have those victim voices--I am nots, not this, not that, not enough or too much: you know the voices that dance in your head.  Creator voice, now that's what I want to hear. 

I am who I see in my mirror and what I make of myself is because I keep on keeping on; I am persistant; I get up again!  A new day, a new morning--a new minute--a hello; a smile--I am myself made of both good and bad; ever striving to be better and trying to live in this moment, this reality, this instance.  This is my now; at this moment I am. I be. I am being.  No better nor worse than this moment, this breathe, this second, this now, at this moment, this reality. 

LJ Sapp

LJ Sapp, 96, died Monday morning, February 20, 2011, at his home in Asheville, NC. 

Death and Dying

L.J.Sapp, 96 years old, is my father-in-law. He is dying, making the transition from life in this form to life in the light.  He is a good man. His family is surrounding him, sitting with him, reading to him, singing to him, and loving him. 

Tech Bootcamp

Ok! Heads up! I remember when the latest technology was making the Chipmunks sing in unreachable and funny notes...  And here I am, a Digital Immigrant, learning as quickly as possible how to use technology in online classes as well as a tool for educational uses.  I am having fun exploring as much as possible while I am as busy as I have ever been.  Ideas bud, bloom, and wilt away!  I am surfing, tweeting, blogging, facebooking, et al, all over the place...  I visited my Twitter account and found that I am following New York Times, The New Yorker, celebs, and friends.  I have been facebooking for a while as well as blogging.  Now, I just need to bring pics, etc. into this blog to make it more interesting...

Last week in January 2011

One always hopes for the new year to be better, although we sometimes hardly know what better is. I am grateful to have a roof over my head, and an apartment underneath that roof that is quite nice, even awesome, one might say.  We are comfortable, have enough food; we love each other. I love teaching, too. What is it that myself longs for? warmth, sunshine, a caressing breeze, and no earaches.

Snowing...

Oh, dear.  It looks like we are going to be snowed in for the week. 

Snow

Snow. It has fallen; it is falling; and it will continue to fall. (past, present, and future progressive.)  Snow is cold. Teddy will not do his business in snow. Teddy looks at me like its my fault that it is snowing.  Teddy flicks his feet, one at a time, when he has to walk in snow.  Teddy does not like snow. He does not run in snow. He does not look for Spot or other dogs in the snow. Teddy does not sniff the snow or bite the snow. Teddy says, "To hell with the snow."

Grammar Tree

I am trying to devise a visual that will help students see that the parts of speech grow together to form a sentence.  For example, in order to have a sentence, one must use nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs to form the sentence. Sentences form paragraphs.  Paragraphs form essays, etc.  Hmm, I have a tree branch with twigs--this is not a huge limb; it is a smallish limb, etc...  And the branch has twigs that branch to form larger twigs--will this be confusing or will it be helpful.  I will play with this on paper a bit...