One of the things that I cannot seem to get nailed down is the associations of the grains with the different days of the week. Frankly, I would like to tinker with our "snack" menu at school.
Googling does not always come up with good sites as answers to questions. I used Answers.com to get this site.
http://www.alchemycalpages.com/7grains.html
Hmmmmm.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
New Resolve
O ho! No wonder I have not been blogging. My sign-in name had changed and I forgot my password. But here I am now.
Alkelda the Gleeful suggested making this blog my personal struggles with matters of the Waldorf Kindergarten. Good idea, though of course there is a bit of dissonance vibrating between Waldorf K and writing on the computer. On the other hand, I am royally sick of having papers and files all over the place... as well as printing out web pages and juicy posts.
I have recently gone through the struggle of trying to clarify my new position at the school. Technically, I remain "Kindergarten assistant" as well as "Nap teacher", plus supervising early morning drop off, and also the clerical/administrative stuff for licensing, etc. This is to total 40 hours a week and does not include Early Childhood meetings, Faculty Meetings, work on the College of Teachers, festival work, parent evenings, and probably more.
I had thought that I would be more of an Assistant Teacher (semantically, and in my mind, essentially different from teacher assistant), which would mean that I would have an hour or two off in the afternoon to help the teachers with things like parent work and making puppets and buying supplies and all the things that have so often fallen through the cracks.
But i shall not complain right now. I am grateful that they have made this job full time which gives me the recognition and stature actually to be on the COT - as well as giving me medical benefits. Hurrah.
My work this summer at the school is giving me more connection to some of the faculty but especially to the administrative staff. This is all to the good.
So far this summer I am making sure that we have enough nap bags for our expanded program (I have made 8 new bags and have over-dyed the rest with Rit... Fuschia.. so all relate in some way, even though there is a big range in colour intensity and value.) I am also knitting face cloths in cotton yarn - each one different with stripes and simple textures- in yellow, rose, apricot, robin's egg blue, and lavander.
I have bought little pink washcloths to use as serviettes and also simple wooden serviette rings to mark with the children's names and then, perhaps, symbols.
My sister has bought enchanting little cups and bowls from IKEA for the class. The bowls are lined with soft green and the cups with coral.
I have an order in with Lehman's for another "rapid washer" and also a space-saver, Victorian style clothes dryer.
I am also pondering mydormant master's project on cleaning. Do we detect a pattern here?
Alkelda the Gleeful suggested making this blog my personal struggles with matters of the Waldorf Kindergarten. Good idea, though of course there is a bit of dissonance vibrating between Waldorf K and writing on the computer. On the other hand, I am royally sick of having papers and files all over the place... as well as printing out web pages and juicy posts.
I have recently gone through the struggle of trying to clarify my new position at the school. Technically, I remain "Kindergarten assistant" as well as "Nap teacher", plus supervising early morning drop off, and also the clerical/administrative stuff for licensing, etc. This is to total 40 hours a week and does not include Early Childhood meetings, Faculty Meetings, work on the College of Teachers, festival work, parent evenings, and probably more.
I had thought that I would be more of an Assistant Teacher (semantically, and in my mind, essentially different from teacher assistant), which would mean that I would have an hour or two off in the afternoon to help the teachers with things like parent work and making puppets and buying supplies and all the things that have so often fallen through the cracks.
But i shall not complain right now. I am grateful that they have made this job full time which gives me the recognition and stature actually to be on the COT - as well as giving me medical benefits. Hurrah.
My work this summer at the school is giving me more connection to some of the faculty but especially to the administrative staff. This is all to the good.
So far this summer I am making sure that we have enough nap bags for our expanded program (I have made 8 new bags and have over-dyed the rest with Rit... Fuschia.. so all relate in some way, even though there is a big range in colour intensity and value.) I am also knitting face cloths in cotton yarn - each one different with stripes and simple textures- in yellow, rose, apricot, robin's egg blue, and lavander.
I have bought little pink washcloths to use as serviettes and also simple wooden serviette rings to mark with the children's names and then, perhaps, symbols.
My sister has bought enchanting little cups and bowls from IKEA for the class. The bowls are lined with soft green and the cups with coral.
I have an order in with Lehman's for another "rapid washer" and also a space-saver, Victorian style clothes dryer.
I am also pondering mydormant master's project on cleaning. Do we detect a pattern here?
Friday, March 30, 2007
Zounds! How much has happened in the intervening time. Ulric visited over Christmas and also Cousin Rebecca. I have travelled to Seattle to visit Alkelda and Bede and little Lucia. And I went to PA for nephew Bernz's wedding, and on to Puerto Rico, which was wonderful. The difficult and challenging part of the intervening time has been moving from Kindergarten Assitant to Lead teacher. I had wanted to post my first pedagogical story (and it was pretty long!) but I guess that will wait.
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
Oh fiddle-dee-dee. I wrote a post yesterday and it got lost. I wish I could use language the way Brad the Gorilla does, but NO, I am now a Waldorf kindergarten teacher (assistant), which is even more straight-laced than a children's librarina. Well, just for that, I will NOT tell you that last evening we went to a (free) concert by the Santa Fe Pro Musica sponsored by our bank, First National Bank of Santa Fe, complete with an exquisite buffet supper, totally unparalled by anything we have experienced in the East. There is much to be said for the quality of life here.
This morning i went for a check-up by my new doctor and waited not one whit in the waiting room. The restrooms are clean and un-locked. Everything was there under one roof. The receptionist, the nurse, and the doctor were all wonderfully friendly. I so wish we all could livelike this.
This morning i went for a check-up by my new doctor and waited not one whit in the waiting room. The restrooms are clean and un-locked. Everything was there under one roof. The receptionist, the nurse, and the doctor were all wonderfully friendly. I so wish we all could livelike this.
Yikes. I thought that moving to Santa Fe from Washington DC would be... getting away from the frenetic Eastcoast ratrace to a more civilized way of life. In many ways that is true. This evening we (Ricardo and I) went to a lovely, intimate chamber music evening with the Santa Fe Pro Musica. The bank manager knew us and had issued the invitation.
But earlier in the day a colleague, new, at the Santa Fe Waldorf School , had expressed frustration at the nice-sounding words of fellowship and inclusion, but what for her was the reality fo everyone being too busy for each other. And some other new teachers chimed in with assent. And an old-timer said that the tension upon returning to Santa fe from parts more relaxed was palpable and visceral. Well, well, well. Oy, gewalt. Something to ponder.
But earlier in the day a colleague, new, at the Santa Fe Waldorf School , had expressed frustration at the nice-sounding words of fellowship and inclusion, but what for her was the reality fo everyone being too busy for each other. And some other new teachers chimed in with assent. And an old-timer said that the tension upon returning to Santa fe from parts more relaxed was palpable and visceral. Well, well, well. Oy, gewalt. Something to ponder.
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Today is the 3rd anniversary of Bartzy's funeral, which was both wrenching and glorious. A movie was suggested for this evening - we had not been to one together for quite a while - and "World Trade Center " opened today. I agreed to this one with alacrity. Normally I might well avoid it, but to join my sorrow to those who grieved at that time and continue to grieve (and don't we all?) seemed just right.
I am beginning to get my new little workspace cum guest room (at least for one person) in shape.The little shrine to the beloved departed who have gone to the other side of the veil is metamorphizing. But it is coming together. On a related subject, I am beginning to use the dishes which had belonged to my grand mother and great-grandmothers. I understand that the gnomes (or root beings) chortle with glee each time someone breaks a dish.
Just a postscript. I wrote this on the 12th, but it didn't get uploaded until the 13th, which accounts for the discrepancy between the date and the anniversary of Bart's transition into Grace.
I am beginning to get my new little workspace cum guest room (at least for one person) in shape.The little shrine to the beloved departed who have gone to the other side of the veil is metamorphizing. But it is coming together. On a related subject, I am beginning to use the dishes which had belonged to my grand mother and great-grandmothers. I understand that the gnomes (or root beings) chortle with glee each time someone breaks a dish.
Just a postscript. I wrote this on the 12th, but it didn't get uploaded until the 13th, which accounts for the discrepancy between the date and the anniversary of Bart's transition into Grace.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Here I am in Santa Fe. It is hard to believe that a year ago I had never been in Santa Fe, let alone thought about living here. It is a miracle! And I believe that I have a job, which is no small thing when one moves to Santa Fe. It is just what I wanted - to be a kindergarten assistant in the Waldorf School. Deo Gratia!
In looking back at the previous entry, I see that my hopes were not so naive. This landscape supports a different way of being in the world, and I hope that quite soon (after the unpacking) that the elemental life will seep into my very bones.
In looking back at the previous entry, I see that my hopes were not so naive. This landscape supports a different way of being in the world, and I hope that quite soon (after the unpacking) that the elemental life will seep into my very bones.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Well, blogging once a month is better than not blogging at all (I hope). How can one write, though, in the midst of a vast allergy attack/cold?
Nevertheless, I will say that life is very strange right now. I am living in a rental space. in a sense. We have sold the house we have lived in for seven years, a beloved space, and fortunately have sold it to people who will love it similarly, I trust. Rent back through the end of July. And we have a contract on a high-desert equivalent to this moderate-rain-forest house.
What am I hoping for? A different rhythm to my day. Haiku responses to the surroundings. A ritualized spiritual discipline. Why should it be different? I realize we take ourselves wherever we go. But I also do not underestimate the power of the elementals, the surroundings.
Already I have initiated some things new. Besides the daily exercises for my wrist, I exercise daily on the lyre.
Nevertheless, I will say that life is very strange right now. I am living in a rental space. in a sense. We have sold the house we have lived in for seven years, a beloved space, and fortunately have sold it to people who will love it similarly, I trust. Rent back through the end of July. And we have a contract on a high-desert equivalent to this moderate-rain-forest house.
What am I hoping for? A different rhythm to my day. Haiku responses to the surroundings. A ritualized spiritual discipline. Why should it be different? I realize we take ourselves wherever we go. But I also do not underestimate the power of the elementals, the surroundings.
Already I have initiated some things new. Besides the daily exercises for my wrist, I exercise daily on the lyre.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Thursday, December 29, 2005
OK. In the middle of the night I realized my cunning plan might have a flaw in it. I am so curious about how these blogs work, and I am naive. What would happen if I simply wrote the words "Santa Fe Public Library"? This is another test, at 19:21. Tomorrow I will try hyperlinks, and perhaps the next day, inflammatory language! (Is this just my pain talking?)
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
What! Twice in one day. I am going to have to write short posts more frequently in order to get back in the habit, and so I don't get too tired. When I have more two-handed mobility, I will start attempting to put pictures up too. One of my presents for Christmas was a package of rechargeable batteries for the little digital camera that Ulric gave me last year. Fortunately he also gave me a charger. I have a few details to master and then WHAM... you shall be dazzled.
And now, I have a cunning plan, as Baldrick would say. I am going to link to one of the few blogs that I check every day, the library blog that is my model for what a library blog should look like. Here it is, ICARUS.
The cunning plan has to do with ascertaining whether the ICARUS master picks up this reference to the blog and if so, how long will it take for there to be some response. It is about 6:15 Eastern Standard Time, or to be more exact,18:15.
And now, I have a cunning plan, as Baldrick would say. I am going to link to one of the few blogs that I check every day, the library blog that is my model for what a library blog should look like. Here it is, ICARUS.
The cunning plan has to do with ascertaining whether the ICARUS master picks up this reference to the blog and if so, how long will it take for there to be some response. It is about 6:15 Eastern Standard Time, or to be more exact,18:15.
My last post was on the evening before a big change in my life. I had not a clue as to what the morning would bring. In a nanosecond, a patch of invisible black ice transformed me into a one-handed person. My right wrist, my write hand, had been broken in 5 places. Surgery was on the 19th. Thank goodness for Brigid, my sainted sister, who took me in for surgery. Ivanhoe has been very, very supportive, and my friends and colleagues are truly wonderful. And I am learning to augment the use of my left hand with...teeth, right elbow, and either foot (usually not both at the same time.) I can wash my own hair, but I cannot file my nails easily. I cannot drive, at least not yet. (I have a stick shift.) Why am I writing this? It is hard to write anything nuanced while pecking the words out with three fingers. But I guess there are those who have written whole novels by tapping a keyboard with a stick in their mouth.
But an inspiration for me is one of my favorite illustrators, Glen Rounds. I had noticed that his more recent work was bold, with heavier black outlines than his previous pen-and-ink drawings. And in some illustrations one could detect that elements had been cut out and pasted in. But they were still wonderfully and unmistakably by Glen Rounds. Later I learned that
he had had a stroke and subsequently learned to draw with his non-dominant hand. I think he had been a right-hander, but his illustrations remind me forceably of my father's drawings, and Dad was a lefty. Brigid says my left-handed printing reminds her of Dad's printing, though he had a flowing cursive (usually.)
Right now I wanted to record a different on-line trnslation site which worked a lot better for me than the babelfish site did, at least for German to English.
But an inspiration for me is one of my favorite illustrators, Glen Rounds. I had noticed that his more recent work was bold, with heavier black outlines than his previous pen-and-ink drawings. And in some illustrations one could detect that elements had been cut out and pasted in. But they were still wonderfully and unmistakably by Glen Rounds. Later I learned that
he had had a stroke and subsequently learned to draw with his non-dominant hand. I think he had been a right-hander, but his illustrations remind me forceably of my father's drawings, and Dad was a lefty. Brigid says my left-handed printing reminds her of Dad's printing, though he had a flowing cursive (usually.)
Right now I wanted to record a different on-line trnslation site which worked a lot better for me than the babelfish site did, at least for German to English.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
I am continuing to have problems with my WILL (as in, motivation to do things, though I also have lacked the will to make a will, I admit.) Nevertheless, though I deserved no reward, I endulged in a movie tonight at the AFI (American Film Institute). I am not sure whether it was a movie or "un film" - Good Night... and Good Luck about Edward R. Murrow. It was obviously very timely ...and very, very sobering. The audience sat in silence at the end, just sitting there watching the credits.
The Ricardo said afterwards "Nobody is saying these things the way Edward R. Murrow said them -with simple eloquence." But then we remembered Bill Moyers.
The Ricardo said afterwards "Nobody is saying these things the way Edward R. Murrow said them -with simple eloquence." But then we remembered Bill Moyers.
Monday, December 05, 2005
OK - third attempt today to write something.
It is snowing here and thus we needed to cancel our library program tonight. Not that the weather was insurmountable, but enough people wussed out that we postponed it.
Life was rather slow in the library this evening and I actually resorted to playing solitaire ( I had forgotten how) in between chapters of a book which is actually quite good, but whose title I have forgotten. What a mess am I!
There was a message on my work machine today, from the children's librarian in Santa Fe, giving me the name of their director. It seems rather odd that when one goes to the library website, there is no place for finding out who the staff are or if there is a human resources division. But with some careful sleuthing and extrapolation from my own situation, I realized that the library is a division of the city government and probably all job postings and hirings get filtered through the city HR department. At least I know now that they have a new library director, Patricia Hodapp, who (I think) used to be with the Denver Public Library. She is also an artist and is on the board of Pandas International. I can relate to this since one of my young colleagues is totally obsessed with the new panda cub at the National Zoo. The baby's live cam is bookmarked on the toolbar of our Library's reference computer.
It is snowing here and thus we needed to cancel our library program tonight. Not that the weather was insurmountable, but enough people wussed out that we postponed it.
Life was rather slow in the library this evening and I actually resorted to playing solitaire ( I had forgotten how) in between chapters of a book which is actually quite good, but whose title I have forgotten. What a mess am I!
There was a message on my work machine today, from the children's librarian in Santa Fe, giving me the name of their director. It seems rather odd that when one goes to the library website, there is no place for finding out who the staff are or if there is a human resources division. But with some careful sleuthing and extrapolation from my own situation, I realized that the library is a division of the city government and probably all job postings and hirings get filtered through the city HR department. At least I know now that they have a new library director, Patricia Hodapp, who (I think) used to be with the Denver Public Library. She is also an artist and is on the board of Pandas International. I can relate to this since one of my young colleagues is totally obsessed with the new panda cub at the National Zoo. The baby's live cam is bookmarked on the toolbar of our Library's reference computer.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
What should I report first? This is the second Sunday of Advent. I cannot find my most precious box of Christmas things, though I have put up the large Creche (inn, etc with lots of camels from the East}.
This afternoon I participated in the Advent/Midwinter Garden at our Waldorf nursery school. We filed into a dark and hushed room with only lyre music playing softly and one candle burning in the middle of a spiral path outlined by evergreens. We adults watched with glistening eyes as each child walked the path into the center, lit his/her candle (mounted in an apple) from the center candle, and placed it somewhere on a silver star along the spiral. I am sure the parents were a bit tense ... "Will my child know what to do? Oh, agony, her candle went out and she is going back to re-light it!" We teachers, on the other hand, apart from our eagle gaze that no-one set himself ablaze, etc.. watched each time to see how this particular child is incarnating. How does he or she move toward the light? What happens after the candle is lit? How confidently/slowly/ thoughtfully/ impetuously/ does this child bring the apple cum candle home to its star, and where on the spiral does the child place the apple? It is not that one analyzes all of this.... just noticing!
And then old friends over for supper, some of it left-overs (or carry-forwards, a useful concept from the Trinidadians). What a jolly evening. Lynn and I hardly mentio9ned politics (what a change from our customary conspiracy theories, perhaps because it all is so over the top these days) but she did Totally Agree that living in Washington is NO WAY TO LIVE.
This afternoon I participated in the Advent/Midwinter Garden at our Waldorf nursery school. We filed into a dark and hushed room with only lyre music playing softly and one candle burning in the middle of a spiral path outlined by evergreens. We adults watched with glistening eyes as each child walked the path into the center, lit his/her candle (mounted in an apple) from the center candle, and placed it somewhere on a silver star along the spiral. I am sure the parents were a bit tense ... "Will my child know what to do? Oh, agony, her candle went out and she is going back to re-light it!" We teachers, on the other hand, apart from our eagle gaze that no-one set himself ablaze, etc.. watched each time to see how this particular child is incarnating. How does he or she move toward the light? What happens after the candle is lit? How confidently/slowly/ thoughtfully/ impetuously/ does this child bring the apple cum candle home to its star, and where on the spiral does the child place the apple? It is not that one analyzes all of this.... just noticing!
And then old friends over for supper, some of it left-overs (or carry-forwards, a useful concept from the Trinidadians). What a jolly evening. Lynn and I hardly mentio9ned politics (what a change from our customary conspiracy theories, perhaps because it all is so over the top these days) but she did Totally Agree that living in Washington is NO WAY TO LIVE.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Aha. Two postings in one day. I have decided currently to go for quantity, not quality. Mozart is blaring in the background as my house-mate tries to recreate the score of the 2005 movie version of Pride & Prejudice,which stubbornly refuses to reveal the originals of the soaring music in the background. Ahhh. I love each and every Mr. Darcy. Am I so fickle - or am I so very, very loyal?
OK. So now I need a link in this posting to make it worth your while, dear accidental reader. Today at work I was busy (totally busy work, believe me) translating the computer-use policy into German. Aaaaargh. Finally I was introduced to a short-cut. You still need a decent conversance with the language into which you are translating. But this is a nifty aid, believe me. The trick is to write the English into straight-forward, non-slangish language before pressing the button to translate.
The Mozart swells in the background as I reveal this wonderfully powerful tool to you, gentle reader.
http://babelfish.altavista.com/
Voila! Mozart sublime.
OK. So now I need a link in this posting to make it worth your while, dear accidental reader. Today at work I was busy (totally busy work, believe me) translating the computer-use policy into German. Aaaaargh. Finally I was introduced to a short-cut. You still need a decent conversance with the language into which you are translating. But this is a nifty aid, believe me. The trick is to write the English into straight-forward, non-slangish language before pressing the button to translate.
The Mozart swells in the background as I reveal this wonderfully powerful tool to you, gentle reader.
http://babelfish.altavista.com/
Voila! Mozart sublime.
I just got home from a day at work. 8 hours of serving "the public." Among "the public," however, were old friends - a wonderful poet, craigy-faced and handsome, who looks like he could be a cowboy but has a passionate soul (though I guess some cowboys are of the poetic passionate soul genre); a old friend/journalist who has recently adopted a teen-aged girl who was a child/soldier in Sierra Leone and who is now flourishing in the barren soil of Blair High School - so perhaps it is not totally barren; etc etc. Those were the two connections that come instantly to mind from the 8 hours of manning the Desk. There were more. A few frustrating encounters, but that is to be expected. I am so fortunate... and so exhausted.
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
I am desperate. I have not blogged for a very long time. I need to say something, even if it is not edifying, just to blow the dust off of Pipers. I have been in New Mexico for a little while, and it is beautiful. I have seen and experienced art. I have heard coyotes in the night. The full moon was still in the sky yesterday morning. I smelled the creosote bushes. I could "do" all sorts of links here, but I will rest my case until tomorrow.
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