Monday, October 31, 2011

not in Kansas anymore

Much has occurred since my last typing; too much to capture at this present moment.  I am safely moved and settled enough to find my toothbrush and my pillow. Still adjusting to the dramatic change of being in the thick of city living to the dead silence of living in the woods.  Trying to consider it peaceful and serene instead of creepy and isolated.  Obviously I need to read more Thoreau and Dillard and Sarton. 

Some quick snaps of my country living...


Didn't realize how much the day had shifted until I realized it was almost 8 and still dark outside.  Glad the time changes this weekend.


After an energetic meeting with my new principal and meeting a few staff (doubt I'll recognize them sans costumes next week), was treated to fresh scones that my aunt just whipped up and popped in the oven. 


The drive into the school.

The Admin building.

So much more to follow, but am still rummaging about in boxes as I begin teaching Monday next!  I will have a section of senior ESL for this quarter and I am most pleased to say that it is an afternoon class!

Friday, October 28, 2011

no moment is less important than this...

 (a bit of a view from my new isle o' livin')

You know that moment in the summer dusk
when the sunbathers have all gone home to mix drinks
and you are alone on the beach

when the waves begin to nibble
on the abandoned sand castles—
And further out, over the erupted face

of the water stained almost pink
there are a few clouds that hold
entire rooms inside of them—rooms where no one lives—

in the hair
of the light that soon will go
grey and then black. It is the moment

when even the man who mops the floor
in the execution room of the prison
stops to look up into the silence

that grows like smoke or the dusk itself.
And your mind becomes almost visible
and you know there is nothing

that is not mysterious. And that no moment
is less important than this moment.
And that imprisonment is not possible.

"After Ritsos" by Malena Mörling, from Ocean Avenue. © New Issues Press, 1999.


As you're reading this, I shall be shoving many boxes around and reorganizing my entire life.  I'm a little stunned by the quickness of how all of this has fallen into place.  In some ways, it is literally been six weeks from a random conversation to driving a U-Haul into a new zip code.  

In other ways, I can see the thread beginning last January when I was hired to accompany a studio of violin students in May.  That paid for my ESL course in July.  Which led to a contact and a contract teaching position in September.  Which is paying for this transition period and move.  And I just received news that I could begin teaching--not in January as originally planned--but next week.


So, there will be a few moments at some point next week where I shall sit still and marvel at the serendipity in my current path.

Happy Friday! 

Thursday, October 27, 2011

amusing myself


while researching a couple of quotes to hand out during my final rehearsals tonight, I came upon this gem which gave me a good giggle:
He has Van Gogh's ear for music.
 
Billy Wilder


Wednesday, October 26, 2011

happy mac

After fifteen (yes 15!!) days without my laptop, it has been restored to my happy little fingers.  If I weren't in public, I would probably kiss it.  And, because the company screwed things up, they cut my bill in half.

Not bad at all.
 
And just in time for my island move.  Stay tuned....


Thursday, October 20, 2011

controlled chaos

No, I haven't fallen off the planet. All is well.  It's just that my laptop is in the shop and I'm in the midst of leaving three jobs, putting stuff in storage and prepping for a new job.  And attending myriad farewell festivities in my honor.

I am moving out of Seattle next week to Pt. Ludlow.  I will begin teaching at West Sound Academy in January.  For the Jan Term (as it is slangily referenced by those in the know), I will be co-teaching with the dance instructor.  For three weeks, we'll have intensive summer-school style sessions and then present a mini-concert.

At the beginning of the actual spring semester I will be teaching three ESL classes, one regular English class and beginning the choral program.

So, that is the scoop from my perch above Lake Washington....where the women are tired and the men are non-existent.


Monday, October 10, 2011

Jack Robert Dunston


 joined his big brother Luke this past Friday afternoon.  Everyone is healthy and happy.


Proud grandpa!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

autumn and adieus


Have had weird cheesecake cravings and found these delightful mini ones in Pike's.


Can anyone identify these berries?  They grow on a tree in my neighborhood.  They're gorgeous, but I've never seen these before.



Had my final concert with the Rusty Chord this weekend. 









It was a fun concert, bittersweet as we've had such a fun time singing together.  As the theme was autumn and it's difficult to not be hit over the head with the metaphoric meaning of autumn as the most of the audience (and some of the singers) are using walkers, have hearing aids and are dealing with all manner of aging issues.  Anyway, to counteract all the melancholy of that and my farewell, at the end, the singers exited to "Autumn Leaves"....and tossed handfuls of leaves into the audience as they left the auditorium.

Leave 'em laughing, indeed.

Friday, October 7, 2011

poetry Friday


 Crazy week--ended up evacuating three different buildings, in three separate cities.  Fortunately, there was no disaster at each site, but am keeping an array of lucky pennies close by.

A friend shared this poem earlier this week and it sums up nicely this transition period that I find myself in.  

Happy Friday, happy autumnal weather finally arriving!
Hope; An Owner’s Manual
 Barbara Kingsolver

Look, you might as well know, this thing
is going to take endless repair: rubber bands,
crazy glue, tapioca, the square of the hypotenuse.
Nineteenth century novels. Heartstrings, sunrise:
all of these are useful. Also, feathers.
To keep it humming, sometimes you have to stand
on an incline, where everything looks possible;
on the line you drew yourself. Or in
the grocery line, making faces at a toddler
secretly, over his mother’s shoulder.
You might have to pop the clutch and run
past all the evidence. Past everyone who is
laughing or praying for you. Definitely you don’t
want to go directly to jail, but still, here you go,
passing time, passing strange. Don’t pass this up.
In the worst of times, you will have to pass it off.
Park it and fly by the seat of your pants. With nothing
in the bank, you’ll still want to take the express.
Tiptoe past the dogs of the apocalypse that are sleeping
in the shade of your future. Pay at the window.
Pass your hope like a bad check.
You might still have just enough time. To make a deposit.

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

find a penny....


 my wee pumpkin prior to it's immolation--using up an old taper was perhaps not the best idea.


And speaking of fire, we had to evacuate our building at 4 a.m.  False alarm, but am effectively awake.  Trying to catch a frantic pet and then stumble down 12 flights of stairs on minimal sleep has caused me to look askance at this day.  Finding a penny on the sidewalk perhaps will turn my luck?

Saturday, October 1, 2011

trippin' down the lane of memories


Bob, Ellen and John at Willamina.


Chip and Cheryl Escobar, Cheryl and Carol...not sure whose fireplace.


Dad and I, somewhere in Canadian waters?


Snowmobiling with Uncle Jerry outside of Fairbanks.


Great-grandpa Peterson

John and Jeannie Kreigelstein with baby Kellsie


La parenti and Jerry and Helen heading out into their Alaskan adventures.


Uncle Bob and mom at the Beach House.

Ellen trying to subdue the cranky popcorn maker.


The Hagen clan--with Liz goofing off.  Or dancing.




My quartet of grandparents in Kelso, Christmas 1978/9?


I've never liked morning.


A true rub-a-dub-dub, three in a tub moment--at Willamina.