the party's over

today was my first day back in my classroom.
one week before the shorties arrive.
seven days to colorfully and creatively cover bulletin boards.
a short time to breathe deeply and fill the room with love and good vibes.

my summer has ended nicely.
our trip to the outerbanks was stellar!
i have never been there before and was blown away with the beauty of the dunes.
and...
fireworks every night!
somewhere, about every ten minutes or so, someone sets off fireworks.
brilliant displays of fire, sparks and light, in fact.
they do this even though there are signs posted not to.
it was like independence day for a week!

our nieces had much salty sand fun.



we rested, ate amazing family-cooked meals, read,


sunned ourselves,



and sang at the top of our lungs with the ocean as our percussion.


alas...back to the books.
back to grading papers.
back to figuring out what makes the shorties tick.

goodbye summer.

39 years ago today...

last night was a celebration!
it was the eve of my 39th birthday!
the last birthday in my thirties.
i get all sentimental about stuff like that.
"i'll never have another birthday in my thirties again. ever."

not that i feel old. cuz i'm not.
it is just a fact that from now on, my birthdays will have a larger digit in the place value of ten.
(ok, teacher!)

red wine was used to toast this anniversary of my entrance into the world.
and then some white.
and then some more red.

eventually, we ended up at the club charles where we were in the wonderful company of our sweet friend, stewart.

she was just getting off work and joined us for a cocktail.
goslings on the rocks was placed before me.

well...you know...i can never get the rhyme straight until it is too late.
i am talking about:
"wine before liquor, never sicker.
liquor before beer (or wine), never fear"

on top of screwing up the order in which i was drinking, i am not USED to imbibing that much alcohol in one night.
so.
today.
was a fuzzy-due-to-being-hungover birthday.

but i managed to make myself feel a little better with a pair of john fluevog boots!


it is tradition that each year i buy myself a pair of boots for my birthday.

i found this treasure at ma petite shoe and chocolate (pure evil!) in hampden!

then, we went and had a little of the hair of the dog...


which made me feel better, but very sleeeeeeeeeeepy.

alas, i am home and packing for our trip.
paul and i leave for the outerbanks tomorrow morning! we will be there for a week!
woo hoo!
and then, back to the shorties!

kisses blown to all of you. will write when i return, unless i find a wi-fi cafe'!

...away you rolling river

my dear friend, keno, flew in on monday from chicago.
i picked him up from the airport and we both ingested sufficient amounts of coffee
as we drove to harpers ferry, west virginia to go TUBING!
i have always wanted to do this.
i have listened enviously to stories of lazily drifting down the Shenandoah river on hot summer days.
i have often driven by the river/tubing/rafting places on my way to and from the western maryland mountains, curious as to how one goes about it all.
monday, my wondering came to an end!
we arrived at river and trail outfitters , parked and went inside to purchase our day-o-fun. keno purchased river shoes (only $16.00 and good quality!) and were given directions to where we had to park and get our rafts (about 4 miles down the road)
upon arrival, we met berkely.

he instructed us to jump in the back of his pickup. he tossed our tubes and life-jackets in behind us and asked us to stay seated. i looked at keno nervously as he started to hum “dueling banjos”.

berkely drove us up the road a spell and pulled over.
“usually we take you further up the road. but, since the water is low, i will drop you here.” our driver explained, “if you aren’t satisfied, i’ll take you up again once you return.”
after being instructed to stay on the far side or near the middle of the river (so our butts wouldn’t be scraped off by big rocks in the low tide), we scrambled down to the river’s edge and launched off.
i looked back and waved goodbye to berkely, who was watching us and puffing on his corncob pipe.

the next two hours were perfect.
we saw purplish-blue dragon flies galore.
we chatted and performed water-ballet as blue herons watched us curiously and geese preened their feathers.

with the warm aftenoon sun on our faces, we sang the folk song written for that great river at the top of our lungs.

upon a perfect landing, berkely requested in his west virginia drawl, “if you were satisfied with your trip, tell all your friends. if you weren’t, don’t tell anybody!”

so…go one and all to harpers ferry and say hello to berkely for us!

won't be long 'til summer time is through

streeeeeeeeeeeetch…
ahhh…three of the five weeks i have off for summer are almost over…
what a lazy writer i have been!

even though i truly am enjoying my free time, i miss the shorties immensely. i saw one of them last week when i went to the school to pick up some stuff and organize our room.
“ms. kath-a-leeeeeeeeeeeeeen”, she squealed as she ran to me, throwing her arms around my waist.
(that, my friends, is one of the reasons i dowhatido)

and now, allow me to tell you about the pool party AND the end of the year violin recital that the shorties pulled off.

the party was stellar! ms. dudley (an angel who volunteers in my classroom every week) threw the gala at her incredibly spacious digs.
she outfitted the shorties with water wings, spiderman life jackets and rafts for luxurious floating.


they were terrified of the water at first.some could not muster enough bravery to venture from the steps without panicking.

but…by the end of the day (after hours of agonizing coaching and you-can-do-its), they were doing cannonballs and backward jumps from the diving board!

crazy kids.

the violin recital went amazingly well. our violin teacher composed usher’s “yeah” for a violin and taught it to the kids. also part of the program were pieces by beethoven , mozart and some of those other composers with white wigs. The shorties were shining up on that stage! their hard work was evident!
i beamed proudly, snapping away with my camera.



the last day of school was all about the “we’re going to 4th grade” dance in our new classroom.

and now.
summer break.
yeah, baby!