The View from Here

Forty Years

Today is the big event- The Caddo Alumni Banquet. I was talking to my friend yesterday and realized we have been out of school for forty years. Forty years! Sometimes that seems like an eternity. At other times it seems like yesterday.

I went through my photos and found a few choice moments from my high school years. I didn’t take a lot of photos. I’m sorry about that now. And I didn’t buy my senior yearbook. I was married, pregnant, and in college and couldn’t afford it. I suppose I should borrow someone’s and scan some photos! (In case you’re new here, I got married in my junior year, graduated in December of my senior year, started college, and returned to school in May to participate in the graduation ceremony.)

That’s me with my little cousin on the hood of someone’s car. It was after church in the spring of my freshman year. I think it may have been Easter. Check out those shoes!

Why I let someone take my picture in Biology class is beyond my recollection now. It was January of my sophomore year and I may have had the camera with me to photograph the big snow storm. I have those photos somewhere!

During my junior year I was very active in FHA and was even sub-district president. We dressed up a lot in FHA and hats were very popular.

My senior picture is a little damaged, but when I tried to correct it I ended up with a strange looking face. So you’ll just have to ignore the creases. I still have some of my “proofs”, in their original envelope, but they are very faded. One is in better shape than the others, but has a starburst effect. Oh well, what can you expect after forty years?

Rock, Paper, Scissors

It’s the little things that “slip your mind”- that are forgotten in the daily routines and plans that form your life. I was in Books A Million Tuesday, buying a Christmas present when the clerk returned my driver’s license and said “Did you know this is expired?” Well….NO!

It’s a good thing I still write a few checks, or I might have gone years without looking at my license or remembering to renew it. Our Oklahoma licenses no longer carry our social security numbers, nor do they expire on our birthday. All safe and secure- everything randomly chosen by the state- and almost impossible to remember! Although I have it figured out now. My new license will expire just before we vote for the next president. Since I’m sure by then we will be a check-free society I will have to remember on my own. ‘Course I probably won’t have to renew my license. It will be included in the computer chip I wear and will automatically update itself if I have a good driving record.

Speaking of record, I not only look like a criminal on my new license. I look like a very old criminal. Does anyone take a good license photo?

And did I mention that because I let my license expire I couldn’t get a new one from the tag agent? Oh, no. We stopped on the way home from shopping to “take care of it” and were told I’d have to go home, get my birth certificate, and go to the Department of Public Safety! Well, that obviously had to wait until the next day because they were set to close in an hour. Of course when I arrived yesterday there were at least ten people ahead of me- four of whom had to take their tests. And there was only one person working because of the holiday. And the phone rang at least a dozen times because people wanted to know the holiday hours. So…getting a new license required an hour of waiting in an old dilapidated building with huge maroon, white and black tiles on the floor which I couldn’t keep myself from counting. LOL When I finished my paperwork I had to take it back to the tag agency and let them process it and give me my new license. Whew! Did I mention that I am never going to let it expire again?

I chose today’s blog title because I’ve been busy doing a dozen little tasks these past two days. They have not only involved “rock, paper, and scissors”, but choosing which to do next has reminded me of the schoolyard game.

The tasks for the Alumni Banquet are complete and we are all set for a Saturday morning of decorating. I had the programs printed and I’m happy with them. I’ve been reading about the first major reunion- circa 1935- and I’m not sure how they managed. It was three days of receptions, meetings, church services, and meals. And their attendance was the same as ours! I clipped out the articles to post on our walls this weekend.

I’m working on a display board for the banquet. It will showcase some of the projects completed by TRAC since the last reunion. We even won an award this week! Our group has been working hard to make Caddo safe and beautiful and I’m proud to be a part of it.

I’m doing something personal for Christmas this year. Nothing really “crafty”, but something I think my children will enjoy. Can’t tell any details here because, believe it or not, they read my blog. But anyway, that is taking some time.

Finally, the rocks! Yesterday afternoon it was 72 degrees and sunny, so I laid out the new path in the garden. Only problem was that it took me several tries to get the stones to interlock correctly. Like putting a puzzle together without a picture. I finally managed and I’m pleased with it. I’ll need two more small stones, but Gary can pick those up Friday when he returns to work. It is so convenient to have a husband working at Lowe’s!

This morning I completed a few preparations for Thanksgiving Dinner. We’ll watch the Macy’s parade. It’s still one of my favorites since I worked for them for five years. And we’ll watch the dog show that follows. We don’t have a dog anymore, but we still enjoy them. This afternoon I’m sure I’ll fall asleep while Gary and Robert watch a movie. I hope you have an enjoyable day. Stay safe!

Thanksgiving

In honor of the holiday, I have listed ten things for which I am truly thankful.

1.       I am thankful that I’m not you. It has taken me nearly sixty years to be happy with who I am and to be content with my own life. I can honestly say that I am not jealous of anyone else because I have come to the understanding that everyone has problems. Fame, fortune, and fabulous good looks do not exempt anyone from pain.

2.       I am thankful for my large extended family. I admit some family members drive me crazy! Some of them make me ashamed. Some of them baffle me completely. But we’re all connected and related by love and blood.

3.       I am thankful for my husband- my best friend, lover, and companion for thirty-seven years. We’ve had our ups and downs, but I’ve never regretted our decision to marry. I am committed to our relationship and I enjoy our life together. I hope we have many more years together!

4.       I am thankful for my children. They have enriched and improved my life in ways I just can’t enumerate. I am so proud of them and the lives they have made for themselves. They are good people!

5.       I am thankful for my friends. Each person I meet adds something to my life. Those who choose to be friends are priceless treasures. How would we learn and grow and change without the actions and opinions of others? How could we possibly live without the support and understanding of our friends?

6.       I am thankful for my health. With all my whining and moaning, I am still cognizant of the fact that I am blessed with good health. Although I’m often in pain, and I’m still bothered by this eye problem, I am rarely sick. I can still walk. I can see and hear and think.

7.       I am thankful for my career. I go to work each and every day with a positive attitude about what I do because I know I’m in the right profession. There are a lot of people who will never be happy with their work.

8.       I am thankful for this place where I live. It suits me. I like our small town. I like the little house we are renting. It soothes my soul to see the pond in the morning and watch the cows graze. I spent decades surviving in the city, but I was never truly happy.

9.       I am thankful each day for a hundred little things that make life so interesting and exciting. We only have to keep our eyes open and our hearts sensitive to appreciate how blessed we truly are to be alive.

10.   And leaving the best for last, I am thankful each day that I have the blessing and peace of knowing Jesus. Without my faith and my Lord, I’m not sure the rest of my list would matter.

Toys

My husband and I spent some time this morning drinking coffee and reminiscing about toys. Earlier in the week I got a catalog in the mail from Back to Basics Toys. It’s a great catalog of classic toys and even has the original date for some of them. Gary has fond memories of slot cars, circa 1957, and I remember hours spent with tinker toys, a classic since 1914, and Patti Playpal, a three-foot tall doll from 1959. There are also some great toys that our children treasured- corn popper push along, View Master, Bozo bop bag, Lite Brite, and Lincoln Logs.

In the same mail was the JCPenney Christmas catalog. And while I was pleased to see some “classic” toys in it as well, I was stunned by the number of toys that require batteries and perform some specific, limited task. It’s no wonder that children need more toys if each one serves only one purpose. You know the classic story about the kid playing longer with the box than the toy that was in it- it’s because they can probably do more things with the box!

On December 1^st when we return to school my students will spend some time writing “letters to Santa” for the paper. Another trend of the past few years is evident when we get to this traditional task. My girls don’t ask for a doll. They ask for a Bratz doll or a Barbie doll or a Hannah Montana doll. My boys ask for a “Batman” car or a “Spiderman” shirt. I listened to them yesterday as they discussed monster trucks. They know the names of drivers! They also know the names of sports stars, wrestlers, and rock singers. And they want a toy with a name on it! I can’t even spell half of the names without consulting someone else.

I think toys say a lot about our society. The things our children play with are often a reflection of what is going on in the adult world. Hence the toy cell phones and video games and play kitchens. One of the things I’m proud of is that we have demanded more and more toy safety regulations over the past few years. We also have more educational toys available, and a huge array of toys to meet the needs of children with specific disabilities. And even if the “flashy” name-endorsed toys are in the news and advertising supplements, there are still great classic toys being made. There are still toys that let children use their brains and imaginations.

Of course when you are buying toys for Christmas you can always use my tried and true, failure-proof plan…make sure you wrap them inside a great box!

Corpulent

In case you aren't familiar with it, corpulent is just a fancy word for fat. If someone calls you corpulent, it is not a compliment. LOL I learned that from the Word-a-Day newsletter, which I love. If you haven't subscribed yet, go on over to Wordsmith and do so. You'll get a quick note each day about a new word, learn some fascinating facts about words, and feel smarter! (I can never remember half the words later, but it's still fun.)

One of the amusing things about the movie, Appaloosa, is the character Virgil Cole's penchant for "big" words, which he can't ever seem to remember without the help of his friend, Everett Hitch. We sometimes think of our ancestors speaking mostly in one-syllable words, but the truth is that our conversations are the ones that have "dumbed down" over the years. I think the current reading level for most newspapers is targeted at sixth grade.

The new reading series we use at school includes a daily lesson called "robust vocabulary". It's aim is to not only teach children new words, but to make sure the definitions of those words are written in terms the children will understand and remember. Many teachers send the word list and definitions home to share with parents.

I'm also teaching my kindergarten students to use a dictionary. We have a simple children's dictionary with illustrations and we look up a word to go along with our letter of the week. I'm not sure some of them had ever seen or heard of a dictionary before. I guess many parents don't feel the need to keep one! I have to admit that I don't open mine much now that I have Merriam Webster online.

One of my mother's favorite words was prevaricate. Most people who are familiar with the word think it means to lie. Actually it means to deviate from the truth, which isn't quite the same thing. I think that's why she liked the word so much. My father is a great example of a person who prevaricates. He embellishes, exaggerates, and emphasizes, but he never (okay hardly ever) out and out lies. LOL He's a "storyteller".

So...sign up for the newsletter and have fun with a new word today. Impress your co-workers. Feel smarter. And look up one of my favorite words if you aren't already familiar with it: FELICITY.

Not enough...

An arrest has been made. One of the cemetery vandals has been captured. Some explanation has been offered- youth and drunkenness. For some reason that doesn't feel like enough. I don't feel better and I know other friends and family members in Caddo don't either. Now the work begins: the repairs must be made, and order must be restored. Somehow, through money or work or both, the person who did this should  pay for it. My hope would be that he would pay for all the damages and put all the headstones back in place- laboriously, by himself or with the help of the "buddies" who assisted him last weekend. I know that won't happen. He will stay in jail for a time and the good people of Caddo will do all the hard work. Perhaps sometime in the future he will pay some fines and serve some more jail time, but it won't be enough.

I'll leave this depressing topic for a while, but will post any significant updates on my Caddo blog.

We made handprint turkeys in class yesterday. Nothing cuter! I paint the children's palms and thumbs brown, and then each finger a different color. They press their little hands onto a white piece of paper that later becomes a card for their parents. They love it! And it's fun to compare the size of the handprints. Wow! What a difference between my smallest and largest children.

Also attended a reading meeting yesterday. We are constantly looking for ways to improve our teaching, especially of reading.

My granddaughter called last night. Always so good to hear from her and so surprising to realize how much she has grown and changed from the little toddler who used to live here. I can't believe we actually talked about chemistry (okay, she talked, I listened) and college! Ouch...I'm old. LOL

Have a great day! I know it will be...

Turkey feathers

I told you I would feel better if I went to school! I posted this photo on my kindergarten blog, but I know many of you don't read it, so I'm also posting it here. I do this project every year. In fact, this photo isn't our current turkey because it isn't quite finished. I send a construction paper "feather" home with each student and ask them to decorate it any way they wish. Some of them are VERY creative. Each year I'm amazed by the new ways children choose to complete their feathers.

My Cure

I'm running off to school today to seek the cure for my anger about the cemetery. I need a dose of childish innocence and enthusiasm to make this sadness go away. Maybe that's really why I teach...so I'll keep believing that most people are good.

Angry

I'm angry tonight. That's something you won't hear me say very often. It takes a lot to make me truly angry. This afternoon it took one phone call.

My dear friend, Judy, a hard-working member of the Caddo Civic and Cemetery Club called to tell me that the cemetery has been vandalized. I immediately drove out to see the damage for myself and was heartbroken to see that one of the oldest and most elaborate headstones had been broken. It graced the graves of John and Susan Hancock. I will write a longer piece about Mr. Hancock on my Caddo site, but I will briefly tell you that he was an early editor of the Caddo Herald and his son was a prominent merchant. Mr. Hancock was also a tax collector for Colorado county, Texas and his home is still there and is an historical landmark.

However, even if he was the town drunk, his headstone and all the others deserve respect. Generations of Caddo women, beginning with the group formed by Mrs. Bilbo in 1903, have dedicated their lives to preserving and beautifying the cemetery. Families have spent their hard-earned money to buy burial plots and headstones to honor their loved ones. How dare someone destroy that! And for what purpose? What could you possibly gain from knocking over a headstone?

Apparently at least thirty headstones have been toppled and some of those were broken in the process. It will take a tractor and time and effort to raise some of them back up. It will take money to repair some of them. I'm not sure Mr. Hancock's can be repaired. Also among those toppled was the headstone of Mr. Ahrens, the only victim of the 1900 downtown fire. I will take photos of the damage tomorrow. 

I certainly hope the people who did this were drunk or high on meth and didn't realize what they were doing. I can't imagine someone doing it with a clear head. I really can't imagine someone planning to do it.

I'm supposed to meet with the news crew tomorrow to give them some information about some of the graves. I'll keep you posted, especially if the police find the criminals. I really want to hear their excuse for this.

Back in the saddle...

Well, Robert got his car fixed (long story) and I'm back in my Mustang. It feels good to be on my own schedule again. Now I can visit the genealogy library and resume my research projects! I sure wish they were able to keep the library open on Saturdays, but they just don't have enough volunteers right now.

I'm going to school early this morning because I have a couple of things to do in my classroom. I had to move my furniture again yesterday. Still trying to solve a couple of problems. I have some students who don't work well at the tables and need to be in their own desks. But then that creates problems because I need to make sure they can still see the board and they aren't so far away from the others that they feel totally isolated. I have a student who gets out of his seat twenty or more times a day and I need him in the least distracting place possible. I have two students who need to be as close to my desk as possible so I can see when they need help. I walk around my classroom a lot, but I do sit to grade papers and such. So I need to be able to glance at them. Always some reason to change the room slightly! I'm sure the dynamics will be different again in January.

I commented on Facebook that one of the first graders asked me an interesting question yesterday. LOL "Mrs. Maurer, how did you get to be so old?" I told her it was healthy living. Truth is I've begun to think I have forgotten all about healthy living. My diet lately has been terrible. Not nearly enough fruits and vegetables. Poor planning. I have to do something about that!

Have a great day and a wonderful weekend. Better start your Christmas shopping.