September's ending

gorgeous day for a stroll around the neighborhood and the wish that I had Jewish heritage--this seems to be the ideal time of year to begin again.

I'm glad to see our friends come:
talk, laughter, food, wine.
I'm glad to see our friends go:
solitude, emptiness, gardens,
autumn wind.

"September Visitors" by David Budbill, from Happy Life.

National Coffee Day

Whether or not you indulge or use this substance to survive the day, here are some fun factoids to know about java.

garden joys

It's just a miniature garden, but I just delight in stepping out for fresh food each day.  Here's the tomatoes that joined humus and olives for lunch.

 Kale and spinach were part of my breakfast miso.

Morning sun rays.

going postal

After poking fun at my postman last year for his warnings every time he went on vacation about how our mail would be so screwed up, I have to post this.  I returned from Seaside to find that a card I had mailed was returned for more postage.  And that my mailman had paid the $.20.  I thought that was so kind of him, so I left a quarter in my post box and a thank you note.  Came home today to find this note.

Snippets of kindness always make my day!

NSCC wrap-up

 a belated post about our farewell potluck/party at North Seattle Community College last week....hopefully the last early morning, I'll see for awhile.

 all the name cards from the students

 setting up the table--Norwegian cookies and Italian chicken/polenta and Russian blinis were the first to arrive.

 Karen (US/Japan), Hawo (Somalia) and Tomaki (Japan) looking over the selections.

 Paula making her Columbian dish with tortillas and fresh cheese.

James (Italian) and Hawo arranging more food.

the menu--we also had Neapolitans from Turkmenistan.

and finally, Obama was in my hood on Friday--didn't see him, but thought it was cool to see that the bus stop was closed due to a Presidential visit.

Seaside sojourn

 one of the best things about being around/traveling with my family is that everyone (and I mean ALL) of us have at least 15 books within our reach/totebag.  Makes for lovely afternoons of reading.

The wind (previously blasting at 50 mph) had calmed down enough for at least one beach walk.

dinner prep

a seastar light pose for T

 waiting for the first seating of dinner

lots of kitchenly advice was on hand

the autumn birthday girls

mini-pumpkin carving

zee finished products

one last beach walk between showers

one more jaunt into town

until next year....

snippets of poetry

One's real life is so often the  life that one does not lead.

~Oscar Wilde

So this is what's left behind, these things that end up as our real inheritance--the flotsam and jetsam of life, the stuff that drifts into our hands and into history, the chance impression, the little shadow each of us casts, the fragile thing someone carefully catalogs and cares for and then forgets or maybe doesn't, the image of an image that conjures a memory that is either real or imagined--these are here, plucked and pressed between the pages, so they will stay fresh forever, or slip away.

~Susan Orlean ~My Kind of Place

shifting into change

No trumpets sound 

when the important decisions 

of our life are made. 

Destiny is made known silently.

~Agnes de Mille 

This poster has been in my office/classroom for the past six years.  Today I began conversations that will take me into the next chapter of this life I am attempting to create.

My friend calls this the leaping onto the next lily pad process.  Terrifying and yet exhilarating.  And necessary, I think, to finding that life well-lived for oneself.

The artist never entirely knows. 
We guess. 
We may be wrong, 
but
we take leap after leap 

in the dark.

~Agnes de Mille

more misc.

 fabulous score of Scrabble games at Goodwill--the tiles are perfect for so many ESL activities.

and while I do not appreciate having to be up so early, the dawning of the day is a fairly stellar event with this eastern vista

A bit of a sadness this week with the death of a high school classmate; reminded me of this snippet from a Jane Kenyon poem:

I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.

Curtis Roderick

1968-2011

swoosh

Another hectic week is already whooshing by--I consider a triumph if I arrive at the correct job with the correct materials.  And oh--washed, groomed, fed AND dressed.  Three more days at this intensity, then I get to catch my breath--wherever that may be.

Found this quote in a magazine advertisement and love it:  'pretty attracts us.  beauty changes us.'

Misc.

 The cutest mini-butter sticks

full moon rise

 auspicious ferry ride to a fabulous job interview

gorgeous dinner

I only thought I was going to get to collapse in my bed after a very long week....

Have only a few minutes online; not enough time to write of all that has happened in the past week.  But finally, FINALLY, things are becoming happy around here.  More to come...

buzz, buzz

A fun first day of teaching; my class roster reads like a UN listing.  More details to follow, but wanted to share a couple of photos from today.  It finally cooled off; happy to see foggy mornings.  And!  An Ethiopian student brought in injera and lentils to celebrate her new year's.  Yum!