There’s the phone, e-mail, texting, fb and then there are postcards

If you want to check up on someone, chat, touch base or just hear someone’s voice, you make a phone call, right?

If you need to send your flight itinerary, confirm dates and times for meetings, or send an e-vite — there’s e-mail.

If you want to send a quick message: “I’m home”, “Just left. On my way.”, “At the grocery store”, “Congratulations” — there’s texting.

If you want to invite your friends to experience an event with you — you post a photo album on fb.

But some news just warrants a postcard. I’ll let you experience the surprise of our lives when we read the following message from my traveling mother.

Postcard image of the Pietá

You’ll probably have to click on the message to read.

While I’m gone for the month of June, I wish I could send you an old-fashioned postcard with the message “enjoying the sights — wish you were here.”

I have some traveling to do and I won’t be in my chair that swivels and rocks. Blogging is just not the same from a laptop at a hotel or as a guest in someone’s home. I plan to be back around the first of July. I will miss you and want you to know each of you will be in my thoughts. You deserve my full attention in what you post and comment…and, I’m afraid my attention will be too sporadic to read, comment, post. So I will let you know in advance that I will be absent for the month of June. May I ask you a favor? If you think of it, and think I’m missing something big (I know, all your posts are BIG), please send me an e-mail. I would love to hear you SHOUT “I JUST GOT FP’d” or ” ___ JUST GOT FP’d!”

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Welcome to London

It was very cold the day I landed at Heathrow Airport and then took the train into Victoria Station. I had been in sunny Spain, left from Mallorca, and then connected for London in Madrid. I was dressed in a red, white and blue cotton dress and clogs and had not even given a thought to the fact it might be cold in London, my destination. As I waited in line for information regarding finding suitable lodging, a kind gentleman must have noticed my chagrin in being so cold. He surprised me with a bouquet of flowers and smilingly greeted me with “Welcome to London.” I was flabbergasted, smiled back and thanked him.

The service that offered lodging advice made a call and gave me an address for a bed and breakfast in Kensington. I would have gone immediately but decided purchasing a jacket or at least a sweater should be the first order of business. As I walked with my luggage down a street from Victoria Station, I noticed a men’s clothing store and advertisement for a sale. A mannequin was dressed in a very warm looking turtleneck at just the right price. I entered the store, pointed to the sweater and asked the clerk if I could buy that sweater. I didn’t care that it was orange with a red neckline–it just looked warm. Upon purchasing it, I immediately pulled it over my head and felt warm.

Then, I bumped into a girl who had traveled with me. We decided to find a taxi together. I told her I had an address and a reservation and probably she could find a spot there too since it was so early in the morning. We arrived at a charming house of at least three floors, perhaps four. The friendly woman at the desk registered me and gave me the keys also explaining that there were two keys: one for my room and another for the bathroom. She explained that all the rooms on that floor shared a bathroom so I would need to use the second key as I used the bathroom. She asked me to sign the register. I looked over and on the big book of registered guests, lay a cocker spaniel sprawled out comfortably and asleep to the world all over the book.

“Oh,” she noted absent-mindedly, “Would you mind terribly coming back later when the dog wakes up?”

dipity.com I came by later to sign the register

I smiled to myself. Only in London…with my suitcase, a bouquet of flowers, a warm orange sweater with red turtleneck at a small bed and breakfast would this scene take place. “Of course,” I responded.

What kind of welcomes do you remember?

btw I need to let you know I will be “leaving” for awhile during the month of June. I will post one more time, then I’m going up to see daughter #2 and help her pack up her classroom at the end of the year, get ready for baby, then going to Cincinnati for some consulting work. I’ll be back in July when our eyes, hearts and minds will be set on the 2012 Olympics. I already have London on my mind.

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On With the Show

By Rick, georgettesullins.wordpress.com

This weekend my husband was in our latest church musical production. He has enjoyed singing since his Navy Blue Jacket choir days. He had words and music to learn (♪”…we’ve got sunlight on the sand, we’ve got moonlight on the sea…”), dance moves to practice…and for the past couple of years, he has taken on set building. Last year it was rectangular prisms with scenes painted on canvass. The stage hands would simply turn the prisms on casters around to create the next scene. He multiplied the possibilities by also creating a rectangle set on a spindle that could create not just one scene per side but two with a spin of any rectangle inside a rectangle. So each prism could generate eight scenes. (No, I’m not about to go into another math challenge.) He enjoys participating so much.

This year he created a marquee for the production “On With the Show.” He consulted with friends and local vendors and was inspired to dream up a design all on a budget! A tight budget!

Remember the garage that I proudly declared could now park two cars? Well, maybe we can return to that next week…but, not this week. A clean garage was short-lived since our garage space turned into “Productions Unlimited and Set Building.” Sigh! How can one be neatly organized when we’re just too busy living life?

Our next door neighbor was keenly aware of what was going on in our garage as their bedroom window faces the garage driveway. During this project, Rick was always considerate in scheduling his sawing not past 9:00. My reminding him to keep his voice down after 9:00 confused him though since by the very fact he wasn’t sawing, he was satisfied that things were quiet. Our garage door needs WD40 or something similar. Oh, how it creaks, groans and squeals at midnight! (I’m the silent worrier.)

No worries. Our neighbor came by the morning after the midnight session to ask if he could help. The guys started talking about Gorilla Glue when he noticed a large bottle laying about. Rick told him not to buy any, that he had plenty. And, they discussed all the properties of gorilla glue. Use only a dot because that stuff “grows”.

Finally, our neighbor helped Rick load the project into the bed of the truck. As he left he added “I’ll be back whenever I need to glue any gorillas together.”

And off the marquee went to find its place on stage. TGF Gorilla Glue, not a single letter fell down. Here it is…ta-dah!!!

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I love home grown productions. The talent is amazing and the sense of family in pulling it all off, creates a lasting bond of pride and memories. Since the production was in a dinner theatre format, I was working in the kitchen on Friday. My role was clear as I wore my wildflower print apron…set up salads–leafy salads, 3 tomatoes, croutons and grated parmesan on top…√, √, √, √. Served up green beans…”don’t be skimpy”…chicken tetrazzini and garlic bread, not letting that green bean juice soak the bread. As quickly as those were served up –> to the dishwasher. Oh, velveeta cheese turns into concrete fast!

I stole all the peeks I could because I loved watching a sixty something dad dance with his thirty something daughter (♪”Shall We Dance?”*), another dad sing with his third grade daughter (♪”I Don’t Need Anything but You”**) and professional friends show us a move or two (♪”I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair”***). On Saturday I sat among the spectators taking in more in chronological order, not in previews (♪”Music of the Night”****). Yes, every dot of glue grew and is stuck together in my memory (“♪Memory”****).

And now, it’s Sunday…gotta clean out the garage. We have a car and a truck to park inside. “♫five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes♫”***** till we go on with the next show!

Note: Songs from The King and I*, Annie**, South Pacific***, The Phantom of the Opera****, Rent*****

What is/are your favorite Broadway show tunes?

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Maybe this is what you were expecting…

On Mother’s Day I remembered our beloved Leakey (pronounced La-key), our English cocker who was retired from the show ring. Her pedigree papers name her Brazos River Spectrum of Color. Some of you commented that you were expecting fields of flowers …
Well, on Mother’s Day, Rick did send me a slide show of pictures he has recently taken with that amazing smart phone of his. So I thought I would share this Brazos River Spectrum of Color.

Make a free slideshow design

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Brazos River Spectrum of Color

One Mother’s Day before children, I became mother to Brazos River Spectrum of Color, a washed out show dog, the offspring of a champion. She was a pedigree. Brazos River Spectrum of Color was the name given to her on her “papers.” What made our dog with the noble name a washout? Her legs were too short in the eyes of the show dog judges.

So for the cost of vaccinations, my husband’s high school friend who bred and showed English cocker spaniels, gave us Leakey…pronounced La-key. We named her for a place on the other side of San Antonio where my husband and I enjoyed camping.

People would stop us when we walked her to ask “What kind of dog is she?” “An English cocker,” we would explain. They’d walk away shaking their heads commenting they had never seen a cocker with her color. She was roan — black and white.

We would take her to the groomer as often as we could afford back when we lived in our starter home. She would come back to us with her skirt combed and tamed of any tangles. She really was a beauty. The groomers didn’t mind working on her at all as she had been trained to stand still for those grooming sessions. She was well-behaved, not running out the door when the doorbell rang. No wild barking and jumping on visitors.

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And in the hot summer months, the groomer suggested we shave her. Then she became our dalmatian pup.

She was an indoor, backyard and country dog. Rick and I would take her out to the country to roam. She’d ride in the bed of the truck running back and forth, then raising her paws to the sides and sniffing that country air that would make her sneeze, as Rick drove the pastures. Out in the pastures she wasn’t allowed near the cows — Papa Charles didn’t want “no stampede”.

Of course she found the pond and it delighted us to see her dog paddle with those short legs that weren’t meant for showing.

Leakey was our first as we waited for our daughters to come along. Hardly a Mother’s Day goes by, I don’t think of Leakey.

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Flowers from Florida

Not so long ago, I received a beautiful card that surprised me with its message on the front. It was a message that made me reflect “What does that mean?” Inside was a handwritten letter and the card’s inside message “Thank you for everything.”

Graphic Artist Janeen Kokonis Flower Power U

“The force of a 1000 flowers” made me think of the thousands of students I’ve come in contact with…can it be that many? In a field of flowers — who counts? You just see the beauty, the colors, the textures, the many, many varieties — personalities if you will.

As I wind up my week of reflecting on National Teacher Appreciation Week I have one more thought to share — about the student who sent that card. I’ll say that her name is Florida, a name that denotes flowers. I’ll tell you all she is making a difference in the classroom and with her own children, nieces and nephews. She is doing important work locally, on the state and national level. How very proud I am of her. She is my link, my assurance, that as I retire, she is there to continue our work.

The answer to yesterday’s challenge? A

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Brush Up Your Math Day 3

“Seek the wisdom of the ages, but look at the world through the eyes of a child.” Ron Wild

Today we go to Germany. There are wonderful parks for children there. The memory of one side trip to a park when our girls were small inspired this problem.
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A child’s playground in Munich is a multi-colored solid figure built with cubes. Which figure below could represent the shape of the solid figure when viewed from directly above?

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Answer to yesterday’s challenge. 5 x 8 = 40. Clearly Georgette has packed too much! Read the comments for other unique solutions and ways of looking at this.

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Brush Up Your Math Day 2

Besides the fact that we must use math daily, or to solve special problems, it can also, be good for our mental health.

According to the organization Alzheimer’s Prevention

we can do several things to reduce our risks such as manage stress, include physical exercise in our routine, watch our nutrition and include mental exercise, too.

In general, brain fitness should include these key goals:

Be a life-long learner.
Learn a new skill or something new every day.
Try in with the new—novel intellectual tasks—and out with the old—repetition of over-learned tasks. Shaking up a routine makes your brain work harder.
Embrace mental challenges.

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Here’s the next math challenge. It’s a problem in probability and statistics, and oh so useful if you don’t want to pack too much. Pack? Where are we going? It could be a cruise or perhaps a trip to a tropical destination.

Georgette has 8 different tops and 5 pair of different style blue jeans for a trip to Cancún. How many different outfits can she create using 1 top and 1 pair of jeans a day for her week long stay?

LESSON: One figures probability by multiplying the numbers in sets.
HINT: Multiply the number of tops by the number of jeans.

elinterior.com

Yesterday’s answer? The third box Ultimate Desserts Truffles gift box (24 pieces = $50.00). You all picked it. But if you selected “None of the above”, I’d say you were right, too.

Come back tomorrow for the answer to today’s challenge.

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Brush Up Your Math Day 1

As you may know, I taught foreign languages on the high school level for a number of years. I loved it because it included so many enjoyable aspects: travel, art history, studying literature and how people think…psychology if you will. I have known since I was twelve I would be a teacher. But what would I teach? I knew studying Spanish would fulfill me in the long run. At times, I wondered what I would have taught if not Spanish? I think Math would have been my close second, then English.

Math was one of those classes in school I fit into my schedule every year. When I got to college and found out, I didn’t have to take math any more, I felt a bit bewildered and disoriented. What would I do without it? NOT. So, I continued to sign up for math classes and missed earning a minor in math by one course. Gradually, I weaned myself away from a discipline that had demanded so much throughout the pre-college years.

You probably know, or perhaps you don’t, that testing drives our curriculum nowadays. Teaching to the test and not necessarily for the joy of learning sadly seems to prevail. There were many meetings where our administrators asked the elective teachers to write a plan of how we would contribute to the CORE tested subjects: English, Math, Science and Social Studies. We were told we had to incorporate at least one other CORE discipline into our elective classes. Yes, there was a lot of grumbling!

So one summer I created word problems and more word problems addressing all the tested objectives in math. The project became Math in Culture. Surprisingly, I found it wasn’t a chore! I wrote a few problems, which led to even more. I couldn’t wait to get to the computer at our curriculum writing round table. One word problem led to another and by the time the project was completed I had over a hundred Spanish, French and German culturally related problems!

At first, my students were confused. “This is Spanish class, not math.” “Just one problem a day,” I told them. Soon they took it in stride and began to understand the connections between math and culture. The realization set in, yes, it is all around us. At the end of that year, math scores in our building did climb. “It was those Math in Culture problems,” one student laughed. Oh, how I love a team effort and “ah-ha” moments.

So I have decided to post a problem a day in the context of culture. I thought I’d post one a day through Sunday. If we can take on the A-Z challenge, we can take on one digit, two digits, three digits…more!

Here’s the first one. Read through it and then post your answer in the poll box. No stress, no calories, no exercise pain. Try it!
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The first problem is easy and has to do with division and chocolate, Godiva chocolate. No, this was not one of the problems my students calculated, but it is one I calculate carefully around the holidays.

photo via wiki commons

Godiva chocolate is a popular export item from Belgium. Georgette would like to purchase a box with the best value. The boxed choices include the following: Signature Chocolate Truffle assortment (4 pieces = $10.00); Spring Truffle Gift box (6 pieces = $15.00); Ultimate Desserts Truffles gift box (24 pieces = $50.00); Signature Box Truffle assortment (18 pieces = $40.00). Which box offers the best value per truffle?

I’ll post the answer tomorrow.

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Do you remember? National Teacher Appreciation Week May 7 – 11

“Teachers affect eternity, one never knows where their influence stops” Henry Adams

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Do you remember your primary and secondary teachers? I sat here in my chair that swivels and rocks and put myself to the challenge. This is part of what I remember. I invite you to take the poll, and yes, I’ll press publish.

I remember…

first grade
Johnson in PA
Hovell in NJ – We moved in the middle of the year
second grade
Kaloden -I don’t remember much, but yes, I do remember her name and I had a crush on Richard.
third grade
Perkins – She taught me to love reading chapter books and I developed another crush on Ken.
fourth grade
Trotter – very pretty
fifth grade
Smith – She let me create murals for the bulletin boards and she liked my silly poems.
sixth grade
Foreman – She encouraged my writing and I met my bff Peggy.
piano lessons after school on Fridays
Ellison – concert pianist from Estonia – she taught me to love music!
Macormack – greatly encouraged me to sing – wonderful man
seventh grade
Franklin – language arts – She taught us to diagram sentences and made us memorize 300 lines of poetry. I thank her for remembering “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, “The Charge of the Light Brigade”, “The Wonderful One-hoss-shay”, “Trees” by A. Joyce Kilmer. She worked hard and I admired how she juggled family with us 7th graders never compromising her teaching.
Kirkham – modern math – She was tough and I was afraid of her…in a good way.
Talkington – Spanish – I loved the class!
I don’t remember, it was PE
Prestwood – science – She had a classic approach. We produced a college grade notebook of drawings of all the phyla of animals, class, family and she even had us catching bugs in the spring, 25 of them that were mounted and identified in two cigar boxes. And we collected 35 leaves pressed and identified in a book. I can’t help but think nowadays, that a parent note espousing some objection, would exempt a student from the rigor of these projects. Sheeesh.
Prestwood – Texas History
eighth grade – Amburg – English. She taught me never to write something I wouldn’t want read. Clearly, a woman ahead of her time anticipating the internet.
Strange – American history and our bus driver
Osbourne – Math – very good – my dad got relief as this teacher even taught algebra before I really took it.
Cosper – Art – I made a tile mosaic that mother hung in the family room for a while.
I don’t remember, it was PE again
Cruise – Science – she understood and conveyed a love for geology and marine life.
ninth grade
Crouch – Alabama history – She was from Texas. Yes, by the 9th grade I had taken 2 state histories. In her class I learned Alabama was the 14th colony!
Algebra – ? – Her reaction to my “modern math” background. “That’s the problem with modern math. You don’t learn the basics.” My reaction: “Just give me the formulas.” And learn them I did.
Spanish – Watson
English – Galloway – among the best teachers I ever had. She published my first poems.
Home Ec – Balentine, cute as her name, like a Valentine. I learned a lot about sewing and cooking. I still have her recipe for pie crust!
Choir – Bruton – she cast me in a musical.
tenth grade
? – English
Walterhouse – social studies – retired army colonel, Viet Nam vet, nice man
Binchadler – biology – modern from an ecological point of view
Williamson – Another one among the best teachers I ever had – from Spain, red headed, really taught me about Spanish and introduced me to Dalí.
Bailey – Algebra II – My dad got relief that year. She taught me a lot of math.
PE – Why can’t I remember those PE teachers’ names?
eleventh grade
Fumero – social studies
MacDonald – English – very good – The Great Gatsby, W.B. Yeats, ee cummings
Paddock – Spanish – There weren’t many of us in the class.
? – chemistry
Garrison – geometry – Excellent!!!
Pitts – French – Excellent, she loved French
twelfth grade
MacDonald – again – English – didn’t mind a bit having her again
Fumero – again – social studies
Paddock – again – Spanish – independent study
Blackwelder – French
Garrison – again – Trigonometry and College Algebra, now there was a math teacher!
swim team – Dr. Constans – now there was a coach!

Do you remember?

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