The View from Here

Ordinary Days

 

Sometimes the days that are quiet and relaxing pass out of our memories and blend with all the other ordinary days.  I guess it is just our nature to remember events and experiences that are unusual or outstanding or tragic or joyous. But it is the ordinary days that sustain us and give us the peace and harmony that our souls require. Their rhythm and security ground us and reassure us that all is right with the world. Yesterday was just such a day.

 

It began with fog that enveloped everything and reminded me of our days in California. Fog is a constant in the western winter and often made me depressed and weary. Here it is an infrequent visitor and as such poses no threaten to my mood. I just enjoyed the mysterious quiet for a few hours.

 

By the time I headed out to Aunt Betty’s the sun was peeking through. The trip out to her house was pleasant and familiar- cows, hay, wildflowers, bumpy road. I smiled as I turned down her drive and saw her new pickup. It is almost the same shade of blue as mine, but has that ugly D word on it. I had to tease Uncle Lloyd about buying a Dodge.  We spent a few hours chatting and eating and admiring the neighbor’s new calves. Of course I took a photo or two and one of the cows was particularly charming.

 

After my visit with Betty and Lloyd I meandered home and did a few chores- laundry, cleaning, picture sorting.  I took a few photos in the yard and cleaned one of the flowerbeds in preparation for fall seeding. Put out food for the raccoons, cooked dinner, watched Survivor, fell asleep on the couch.

 

An ordinary day…and such a blessing.

 

Looking ahead...

We had an interesting discussion about Caddo at last night’s TRAC meeting. Our little group has worked for five years now to make some improvements and create some enthusiasm for our community. I’m proud of our accomplishments- the sidewalks and street lamps, the bulletin board, the new street signs, and other beautification projects. I’m glad that we have helped clean up some areas of town. I’m pleased that the Yard of the Month program has encouraged residents to beautify their homes. I’m happy that the annual BBQ offers some entertainment for others and has generated enough money to support our projects. But I’m sad too. In 2005 at least fifty people were excited about the future of Caddo and proclaimed that they were willing to help with projects and planning. Last night four of us met together. Our largest meeting this past year has included ten people. What happened to everyone else?

I feel that Caddo is at a crossroads. Growth and progress are headed our way from the south. Developers and “city weary” people are going to be looking at our area for property. Retirees from other states are already here, back home where they came from. The potential for change is all around us and some of it will be good.

However, we are also seeing the “end of an era”. Many of the people who were most influential in the community improvements of the last fifty years are now in their eighties and nineties or gone from our midst. And I don’t see very many people stepping up to take their places. Some of us who have tried have not been very successful because for the most part we are NOT business owners or even property owners. Perhaps that is why so many people from 2005 have fallen by the wayside. Despite their enthusiasm and ideas, they lack the power to actually do anything.  

Caddo’s downtown is a monument to perseverance. Most of the buildings have been standing since 1905. But most are privately owned and many are neglected. They are used only for storage and not maintained as they should be. Some concerned owners are prevented from improvement projects because of money, or the delicate condition of their property.  Sometimes when I drive into town after a storm, I expect to see crumbled buildings in the street. That is a real possibility for at least two buildings if I am any judge of their condition.

Viable businesses in Caddo are struggling for existence.  I’m as guilty as anyone of shopping and eating in Durant because I’m “already there”. But this Christmas season I plan to shop in Caddo for at least half of my gifts. I wish I had more time to go to the theater and eat at the café.

Looking ahead I see several possibilities for Caddo, but only those who are in business, on the City Council, or really active and vocal about their wishes will be able to make a difference in the direction we take. I hope more people become involved in the future plans for Caddo. Otherwise we will just wake up one day and wonder what happened to our town.

 

One foot in front of the other...

 

Oh, the best laid plans. You know I said last week that I was going to move more. Hasn’t exactly happened. Each day has been a bit of a struggle. Yesterday was a battle against pain, but I was certainly rewarded for my efforts. Could barely walk and had to use my cane for my morning walk. But the more I walked, the better I felt. Then I found lots of critters visiting my yard. Always brings me joy and peace to chase butterflies, even if I have to do it slowly.

Today and tomorrow I would appreciate your prayers for some friends who are struggling with problems much more serious than mine. Three are recovering from surgery.

 

 

We are sending home report cards today. Parent-teacher conferences are tomorrow. Then I’m on break for a few days. I have a lunch date with Aunt Betty for Wednesday. Love to see that woman! She always inspires me.

Also plan to spend some quality time on my new book. I really hope I can have it in hand by January. 
There are so many interesting stories left to tell about Caddo!

Enjoy your day!

 

Chasing Butterflies

If anyone calls, take a message....I'm out chasing butterflies.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Making Changes

 

We used to move so often that when we stopped, and stayed in one house more than two years, I was restless. It was difficult to not move and not have the opportunity to be in a different environment. There was something about the challenge of creating a new living space that I craved. So naturally I did what my mother had always done- I changed the furniture around and redecorated a few spaces! I still do that from time to time and it seems to satisfy my urge to move.

Last weekend we removed our window AC units and opened up some of the blinds to let in more light. I moved one of the aquariums to its winter spot in the dining room, out of the drafty place where it spends the summer. I turned the dining room table around. I moved a book shelf. Still not quite enough change. During fall break I plan to change a couple of things in my office- which is getting a bit cluttered. A new bookshelf and bigger filing cabinet should do the trick. I also plan to make a couple of drastic changes in our front “junk” room and I think it is time for us to buy a new bed. By the time I do all of that I should feel like I have moved! Lol

I’ve also been making changes in the yard and it will look very different in the spring. I am not going to add any more flowerbeds. I am just improving the ones that are already in place. One of the “little things” that had been bothering me was some plastic edging we put around a small tree this summer. I know I’m crazy, but I just couldn’t bear to look at it any longer and ripped it out last weekend. There is something about plastic in the yard that I just can’t tolerate. I’m not sure what I will do next, but I know it will be something more natural.

 

I’ve been changing my daily schedule to include a couple of errands each evening so my weekends will not be consumed by mundane tasks. I hate going to WalMart every weekend, especially in the fall when there are so many other more enjoyable things to do.

My classroom is never stagnate either. I moved desks this week and I like the new arrangement. Got a couple of my “talkers” away from each other and two of my struggling students closer to my desk.  One area of our room was a bit crowded and I opened it up. Still difficult to imagine what my room would be like with five more students. I’m so thankful I’m still below the national average for kindergarten class size!

Our administration has made some changes in our school schedule, testing, lesson plans, and duties which will affect the way I do some things during the year. Most of the changes are good, and the others will just make me stronger, right?

 
 
The guys with the big orange equipment are making changes in my daily commute. Wouldn’t want me to be bored by just driving home! So the county or state or whatever agency is in charge of the current project is paving the entire highway through the town where I teach. That means the traffic that goes in and out of school and the town and the next town and the local casino is down to one lane in the afternoons and moves at a snail’s pace. The alternate route I had been taking is closed due to the bridge being out. Yesterday and the day before I had to drive three miles south, at five miles per hour, in order to make a left turn and drive north to go home. Add that to the fact that they are just completing two overpasses and plan to now put in two traffic lights and we will have endured over a year of construction projects. Lots of nice changes! I just hope they finish all of them before winter weather begins and we have to add poor driving conditions to the mix.

And of course we are all gearing up for the big change- setting our clocks back in a few weeks. I am already losing some afternoon photography time because of the other changes in my schedule. Soon it will be dark by the time I get home. I, and you, will have to be satisfied with weekend photos. You have probably already noticed that I’ve been posting fewer photos each day.

So…

changes and more changes.

I’m enjoying most of them and will endure the others.

Happy!

 

40 red and yellow tulips…$10

40 black tulips…$10

40 yellow daffodils…$10

5 new perennials...$13

Visions of a glorious spring…priceless.

I went to Lowe’s after work yesterday in search of some tulip bulbs and of course I also had to buy a veronica, a coreopsis, a gardenia, a buddleia, and a caryopteris off the clearance table. I’m not always good at sticking to my plan or my budget once I enter the Lowe’s doors. Monday’s rain made the ground nice and soft, so the new plants were easily added to the front flower beds. I’ll plant the tulips in a few weeks when the ground is a bit cooler.

 

Also acquired two new elephants this week. One is a little glass pretty that is now hanging at the end of the kitchen cabinet. (It jumped into my cart when I was Christmas shopping at Hobby Lobby.) The other is a little softie with its own book and carrying case. I bought him at the Book Fair at school. Have to support the school don’t I?? And who could resist that face?

 

And while I’m admitting to buying things I really don’t need…I bought a new coffee cup. I know, I know. I already have two dozen. But this one just says “fall” doesn’t it? Makes me happy. And when mama is happy….

 

Hope you have a happy fall day!!

 

We aim to please...

 

One of my students has a habit that drives me nuts! When she senses that she is in “enough trouble for the day” she starts giving me compliments. “I like your shirt Mrs. Maurer”, “I sure like your pen.”, “I like your stickers.” It’s a manipulative coping mechanism that she has surely learned somewhere in her environment. Someone in her life hears her compliments, smiles and softens, and lets her off the hook for something she has done. Well, it has the opposite effect on me! It makes me want to lecture her on good behavior and independence and responsibility.

Another of my students behaves quite admirably if I’m in the room with him. If he is with another teacher or out in the hall on the way to the restroom he turns into a much less appealing person. I’ve talked with him about behaving well because it is the right thing to do, but for the most part it falls on deaf ears. He behaves in the room because I expect him to and he likes me. If I’m out of sight, well there is no one to please.

These two children have obviously figured out that one of the keys to happiness is to please the adults around them. Of course this is something we encourage. We want them to please us. We want them to respect and obey authority. We want them to follow the rules. But it is clear to me that there are two kinds of people in the world- those who obey because of a personal set of moral principles and those who obey because they fear getting caught doing otherwise. The latter group will do almost anything if the odds against punishment are favorable.

 I don’t think most people understand the seriousness of these little behavior issues that arise in kindergarten. “Kids will be kids” is the attitude of most adults. But after ten years of working with this age I can tell you that our attitude should be “kids will be adults”. The little behaviors and habits of childhood become the basis for their life skills as adults. As an example, I had a student who lied to me all the time. I know most people don’t take the lies of children seriously. “They just make up stories”, “they get confused”, “they don’t understand”, are excuses I hear from parents. But many children quickly learn that telling the truth gets them into trouble, and they figure out how to tell adults what they want to hear. My little liar has gone on to a higher grade and is still lying to her teacher. I had another student who stole things from my room and from other children. He went on to stealing cars with his high school buddies.

I don’t think we need to fear every little behavior problem our children have. After all, these are the years when children are exploring their options and testing their limitations and developing their ideas of who they will become. But I think we should be alert to repeated behaviors and habits that indicate they have already chosen a destructive path.

 

The Good, the Bad, and the New Plan

 
 
Sometime ago I decided that I wasn’t going to write about food or diet or nutrition or any related topics anymore because my lack of any major weight loss success has left me feeling unworthy to give advice to others. However, it suddenly occurred to me today that this blog isn’t about being successful enough to share a few tips and tricks for weight loss. It’s about caring enough to share whatever is happening in my life that might help you…and that should include my failures.

Yes, I’m still fat. I’ve lost twenty pounds this year, but that just isn’t enough.

Yes, I still have some bad habits. I simply cannot make myself eat lunch. Just can’t fit it into my class schedule in a way that benefits me or my students. So I have been drinking a Special K Protein Shake each day for the last two weeks.  Then I try to control whatever snack I have at 3pm when school is over and I’m starving. Usually I have a cheese stick or almonds or peanut butter and crackers.

Yes, I must still be eating too much and exercising too little. It all boils down to that doesn’t it? So this week I am going to find out why Mrs. Maurer is so ----fat!! I’m going to write down every morsel I eat and do a little analyzing.

 

And I AM going to move more this week! When I was younger I used to wish I could get up at 4am so I could exercise before I went to work. Now I do get up at 4am and I sit down at this computer until 5:30! I have a treadmill. I have weights. I have a big yard. I just need to get out more and move more. Last night I worked in the yard for an hour and I felt so much better.

So that’s the bad…but let me tell you something wonderful that happened last week. I’ve been saving it for today. I had to buy sodas for the school carnival- twenty 2-liter bottles to be given away as prizes at our booth. I went to WalMart and started down the main aisle and suddenly realized, “I don’t know where they are.” I just stood there and thought for a moment. Then I had to resist the impulse to laugh out loud. It was exhilarating to think that it has not only been that long since I have purchased a bottle of soda, but I have given it so little thought that I didn’t even notice passing by that aisle. That, ladies and gentlemen, is real change.

That’s what I’m talking about.

 

He Ain't Like Us

My niece and I have been discussing racism and prejudice- our discussion prompted by one at her monthly book club meeting. It’s ironic that Gary and I had a similar discussion after attending the Longhorn World Championships. Gary and I have been to a number of group gatherings- cat shows, dog shows, horse shows, rodeos, car shows, truck shows, motorcycle races, car races, marathons, art shows, photography shows, etc. We have also belonged to several groups during our years together. We were talking on the way home about how each group has its own distinct way of talking, dressing, and acting.

While I won’t get into a lengthy discussion of racism this morning, I will say that it is natural for us to cling to “our own kind” and to seek out those in society with similar interests and values. We spout lots of rhetoric about independence and personal strength and individuality, but most of us jump at the chance to belong to a group that doesn’t think we are crazy because we believe in ___ or collect ___ or like to dress up like___. The danger lies in believing that our group, for whatever reason, is superior in some way to the other groups.

Gary and I enjoyed looking at the longhorns yesterday, but we knew by the conversations around us that we were just visitors in an alien world. The members of the group spoke casually to each in terms that I needed time to process. They joked about things that had no meaning to me. And one phone conversation I overheard involved genetic equations that would never have occurred to me!

It is that way with every group. I have long thought it amusing that grown men who have serious jobs and responsibilities will dress up in funny hats and robes and recite the slogans and creeds of ancient groups without any embarrassment. As long as the rest of the group is doing the same thing, anything can become the norm.

Ah…there is the slippery slope. How do we balance our individuality with the “pack mentality” of a group? How do we make sure we are in the right group? How do we align ourselves with a group and yet speak up if and when they are wrong?

Things to ponder this fine fall day…

Champion Longhorns

You just never know what I might have a notion to do. So this morning I had an idea I might just mosey on down to Durant for the Longhorn World Championships. Not exactly the best conditions for photos since the animals were pinned in temporary stalls while being viewed for sale, but the cattle were great and I’m so glad I got a chance to see them!

Overheard this interesting bit of conversation:

“Well, she’s a real bargain at $15,000. You just don’t see that every day.”

Indeed not.