Lady in a Small Town

Three geeks on a couch, originally uploaded by Lady Strathconn.

My husband and 2 friends.

One of the best things about being a teacher is that you get two new year’s each year.  Two chances to start over; to set goals; to feel refreshed.

In September my goals are usually school related.  Keep my classroom neat, keep up with my lesson plans, be a better teacher.  Sometimes they include eating better, walking more, laying my clothes out the night before.

In January my goals are more personal.  Lose weight, watch less TV, declutter my house, eat better.  I also include school related goals, keep up with the planning, be more creative in the classroom, get stuff done.

I am lucky.  I get to start all over every few months.  It is such a blessing.

I start school today.  Happy New Year!

My first faculty meeting of the year. I am knitting and using my computer so I don’t talk too much. I tend to get myself in trouble when I speak up at meetings.

originally published on xkcd.com

We were talking about YouTube videos the other night and the title of this one came up.  The closest I’ve come to watching it (ew…gross) is watching some of the reaction videos.  I love xkcd.com and find their comics very timely in my life.

Well, here it is, Sunday night.  I should be heading for bed, but instead I am up blogging and playing PackRat on Facebook.  I just gotta finish that set!

Friday night we went out to dinner at Top of the Hill Grill.  They will be closing in the next few weeks for the winter, and it isn’t as much fun when it is cold out anyway.  Then we came home and watched TV.  Saturday we did some shopping and Best Lady came and did my hair.  Saturday night we were supposed to go to a staged reading, but I didn’t feel up to it.  Today we slept late, had a very late breakfast at The Chelsea and went to pick out a tree to replace the one we lost.  We will plant it this week.  Tonight I went to see Mama Mia with my mom and sister.  It was pretty good.

I am so not in the mood to go back to school.  My house is in even worse shape than it was at the start of the summer and I didn’t get anything on my list done.  What the heck do I do all day?  I know I should go to bed.  Tomorrow I will do another installment of “my days at Star Island”.  I am sure you are all waiting on baited bated pins and needles.

Monday included a lot of porch sitting, as usual. We took our places at the west end of the porch and staked our claim for the week.  I went to chapel to check out the minister of the week.  While there I worked on my dishcloths and a prayer shawl.

Most of Monday afternoon included storm watching beginner basket making, and Happy Hour Fellowship Time.

Monday evening we played a game with the youth conference.  They had to collect candy (in actuality, balloons) from four different spots around the front yard and then get it safely back to Brookfield.  Of course, also in the front yard were Oompa loompas (the youth leaders, several of the young adults and a hoard of little kids) hoping to pop these balloons before they were safe at Brookfield.  Tony and I stood out by the pier.  I made the kids answer Isles of Shoals trivia for balloons.  They do not know much about our islands.  Other than getting bug bitten, it was kind of fun.

Our evening activity was Trivial Pursuit in the snack bar.

 Tuesday brought blue skies and clouds.  It also brought Robby’s schedule.  We were invited to attend any or all the activities that Robby planned for his day.

I went to chapel Tuesday morning, so I had to scurry to catch up with the group as they left for the Billy Goat Walk.

Not having grown up on the island, I am not sure I have ever done a billy goat walk.  You must walk around the entire island without stepping on grass.  This means a lot of climbing up over, jumping across, and lowering oneself down. It took us about an hour to traverse the mile or so of rocky island, but it was worth it to say I had done it.

The afternoon included more crafty time.  I worked on a new dishcloth and two baskets.

Tuesday evening was gorgeous, and I took pictures during the clam bake to prove it.

Part of the fun of being out on the island is spending time with old friends (and their offspring).  This summer Robby and Kris were the only ones with kids, so those little boys had many “aunts” and “uncles” to keep them busy and safe. There was no end to the entertainment those boys (one big, two little) provided.

And of course, the evening ended, once again, with Trivial Pursuit in the snack bar.

This one I adapted from a friend.

For teachers, summer is like the weekend.

June is like Friday.  You have to work part of it, but when you get home the freetime is stretched out in front you, almost endless.

July is Saturday.  The whole day is yours, all that time to do stuff.  It’s bright and sunny and you have so much to look forward to.  You can sleep late and watch cartoons.  You know things will come to an end, but it seems to far off.

August is Sunday.  Time is starting to catch up with you.  All those projects you planned to do are still waiting and you are running out of time.  You have to start doing your homework, planning for the next year, getting ready for the new batch.  The days grow shorter and the time goes faster.  You have to start going to bed on time.

We are closing in on Sunday night.

Good-bye tree, originally uploaded by Lady Strathconn.
Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

Evening chapel, originally uploaded by Lady Strathconn.

Before we left  for the coast, we ran some errands around town.  I had Tony drive around a parking lot so I could get this picture.  I think I already have Mississippi, but I am pretty sure I don’t have this design.

In the car, I finished my star dishcloth.  I am not very impressed with it in variegated colors, so I won’t do that again.  I like the coloring of the denim blue though.  I better, I have a whole cone of it.

The drive was quiet.  Both kids were occupied with cellphones and MP3s.  (No, we didn’t suddenly have two children, we drove 2 of the youth from our church).  It rained nearly the whole way, sometimes hard, sometimes sprinkly.  I hoped it didn’t bode badly for the week.  When we finally hit Rye it was so rainy and foggy we couldn’t see the islands off the coast the way we have been able to the last two years.

We got to the dock just after the first boat left and about an hour before our own.  It was rainy and muddy, but it smelled like the ocean and that was all I needed.  We saw several friends as we waited under a tent.  (Most of our group was on the first boat.)  Gameboy (who came in our car, since his family didn’t come this year) fit right in immediately.  He remembered kids from the last few years and they introduced him around.  How different from my first year in Youth when I didn’t know a soul other than Sarah.  I am so proud of him.  He started to change right before our eyes.

We checked in and greeted people on the porch.  We were in one of the cottages for the first time.  I didn’t take any more pictures until we hit our room.  Second floor, decent sized room.  2 beds of course.  I took shots of the room and out the windows.  I laid down on my bed and fell almost immediately to sleep.

We were 30 minutes late for dinner and sat at a table of people who looked familiar and a green dot (new) and her daughter.  After dinner we talked to our friends for a while and then went to our room to use the bathroom and change clothes to something warmer.  I fell asleep again and at 9:00 decided I better just go to bed.  Whoo-hoo party animals. Not much really goes on the first night.  I am not even sure our friends did anything either.