We went with my mom and cousin David to tour the aircraft carrier Midway:
Here's the view from the flight deck:
This is a game the girls invented called "Baluga Fling" - the big Baluga figure is curved, so if you place a smaller animal on its tail and hit the head just right, the small animal flies across the room or up into the air. At midnight (Eastern time) we flung the farthest-traveling-animal-to-date. . .
And toasted the New Year in Time's Square with sparkling cider and poppers:
Mission San Luis Rey (4th Grade is Missions in California):
I’ve searched the web, pondered over my email inbox, stared at the names online in Instant Message, and wondered, “What’s missing?” I’ve finally identified the vague sense of something lacking in the world around me, and decided to make it personal: no one is sending me good news! There’s only one thing to be done, then: send it to you all first.
Our good news is very low key, however, which is probably why it hasn’t been reported on the radio, TV, or online news sources. Which is a shame, because all those outlets have been scraping the barrel to find bad news, however trivial, to fill the white space or air waves. Too bad!
Our 2008 has been on the whole very nice. The biggest news is that Rob completed his studies at Santa Clara University and received his teaching credential last summer. The next biggest news is that the next day he was offered a job at the same school where he student-taught last spring, so he is now officially a full-time High School Chemistry Teacher! This will simplify gift-giving for everyone – there are a wealth of items with funny chemistry-related themes, such as ties, t-shirts and coffee mugs, and as you know Chemistry teachers will love to bring these to their classrooms to share the lighter side of science with their students!
I have found it quite an experience as a professional in educational publishing to live with someone who is actually using the materials I build. Actually, Rob’s school doesn’t use texts from my company, so I have learned that we publishers are pretty much the same in fundamentals: there are never enough good test questions, the media that goes with the book is hard to navigate, and there is always something better published by someone else out there on the web. August was a tough time for me personally, as I spent the days at work helping frustrated professors who needed materials for their classes, then went home to a frustrated teacher who needed materials for his classes.
All three girls are doing well in school, as usual. Gabby and Teresa are in the 4th grade this year, for the first time they have the same teacher that Rachel did in that grade. They are getting letter grades this year, and have a whole new level of anxiety around that. It’s interesting to hear them discussing their performance: Teresa immediately translates a numeric score into a letter grade to reassure herself, Gabby is much more relaxed about it. Both achieve the same high marks, but Teresa’s come with a little more stress.
They love science, particularly anything involving space. They have decorated their bedroom with glow-in-the-dark hanging planets and stick-on stars, and have enjoyed using the telescope from Poppa New York (my Dad). They are also enjoying the Old Farmer’s Almanac, and will probably learn to read it better than any of us.
This year Gabby went out for Girls’ Softball, which runs from September through mid-October. She says she’ll also go for Volleyball in the spring. Teresa didn’t think she wanted to do softball until after it started, but says she’ll do it next year.
Rachel is in 7th grade this year, technically in Jr. High or Middle School. I’ve noticed a new seriousness in the school work, but she continues to excel in everything. Socially, her classmates seem to be catching up to her at last, and she is also more comfortable dealing with them. She also has an extensive online social network, and I’m learning a lot about how the new generations will be interacting. For us older folks, the time she spends online chatting or emailing is the equivalent of the hours I spent on the phone at the same age. The conversations cover the same topics: boys, books, current events, parents, siblings. The difference is that these communications go on in parallel, and include the sharing of visual and audible materials. There is also a strong element of collaboration – they work together on writing stories or creating new websites.
Without the internet they would probably be pretty lonely at school, since there are only one or two kids like this in a class. But the Internet has overcome the geographic barriers. Rachel’s group of five or six close friends includes kids from across the US and into Europe. It’s fascinating to watch.
I’m doing fine too, in large part because the family is doing well. The textbook arm of the publishing industry hasn’t suffered the same downturn as trade publishing, so we aren’t looking at the same threats of layoffs and such. Our challenges come from the changing way in which information is distributed to students, both within the academic environment and in the general population. Verified, accurate information no longer gets to students through the strictly limited channel of an academic lecturer or expensive textbook, and we need to evolve in recognition of that. It’s a slow process however, which probably won’t be completed until today’s middle school students grow up and start teaching themselves.
Until then, things are interesting but not exciting. I hope you can say the same as you enter the New Year!
Today was the walkathon fundraiser at St. Joseph's, where the three girls attend school here in Mountain View. Gabby walked 35 laps (over 9 miles!), and raised $265: most of it from a parental lapse of judgement which led to a pledge of $5/lap. Gabby is the major fundraiser in the family this year, she has also brought in seven magazine subscriptions to date in the subscription drive.
School is going well for everyone on campus in our family: Rachel is adjusting to 7th grade, gradually building enthusiasm for the social events of the year. She is more popular this year because classmates have discovered the Twilight series of young adult novels, which she has been reading for years. She reports constant comments of "OMG, Edward is so hot!" and "Rachel this is so cool!" She has mixed feelings about the gushing, because these girls were real pains last year and are still incredibly petty. At the same time she is less alone than last year, with something to share with the other girls at last.
As I remember, the world ended in sixth grade and from then on I lived in constant heartache. I wouldn't go back to seventh grade for anything.
Rob's school year has started well. He is teaching high school Chemistry, and this is his first real year as a teacher. He loves it, is able to keep on top of the grading and all so far at least, and even gets a full nights sleep almost half the time. His school requires everyone, even teachers, to have a period of quiet reading every day, and for teachers it cannot be subject-matter content. No reading Chemistry Today journals! So I've bought him a copy of "Up the Down Staircase" and "To Sir With Love." Time to open his mind to literature beyond traditional karate books and chemistry journals.
Today is September 9. It is my late mother-in-law's birthday, she would be. . .laughing with me about it if she hadn't passed away in 2000. She was a wise woman with a sense of humor, all tied together with tremendous charity: the selfless love for others. That made for some memorable exchanges that will always color my view of events and make me laugh when I should cry.
One simple example: We were sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea with Tang and sugar in it, talking about this and that. I remember she turned to me, her eyes wide with the urgency of the message, and said, "Marry the faults you can live with."
It seemed such a timeless piece of wisdom I thought it ought to be delivered in Spanish instead of English, like an Old World proverb. Such a simple thing but really, it's as good a beginning for a happy lifetime together as anything else. The man leaves his socks on the floor - messy but you don't mind so much? Ok. Messy socks on the floor cause you impossible stress at the disruption of order and the proper place of things in the world? Very bad. Such simple, good advise, I will do it in needlepoint some day.
The humor? She said this to me after I was married to her son. Timing, Momma, always timing.
She left us in May, not exactly a month from my oldest daughter's birthday, not when anything important was happening, no special event that would be colored forever by our loss.
The disconnection to special events instead ties my memory of her death to jokes and laughter so strong we cried with laughter: It was spring, sometime in the mid to late 1990's. She was telling me about a time when she looked out her back window one night and saw a horrible, ugly, huge, rat-like thing, clumbering along the back yard fence. "Oh, that sounds like a possum," I said.
She looked at me with eyes wide and eyebrows raised. "I feel sorry for possoms," I continued. "They hybernate all winter, then in spring they come wake up and come out all groggy, and all they want to do is find a member of the opposite sex and, you know... and they stagger out into the street and WHAM get hit by a car."
She dissolved in laughter, tears and all, for minutes. Finally, she lifted her head up and said, gasping, "If..... you ever hear that I died.... and it was because I was hit by a car..... You'll know what happened..."
And we both exploded, laughing so hard tears came down our faces.
Another time, we were sitting there again, and my father-in-law went by off to his office or somewhere. She tossed a nod at him to make sure I knew who she meant, and said: "I'm just leading him on." I said, "Oh?" "Yeah. As soon as I find Mr. Right, I'm out of here." Me, too, Momma, right behind you.
Mrs. Wilson: Welcome to this month's meeting. I'd like to ask if there are any new members, and have them introduce themselves?
[Shirley and Miranda are sitting together, they stand up]
Shirley: Hi, I'm Shirley, and I'm (sob) not a perfect mom.[general sympathetic murmers and some applause. Miranda pats Shirley on the back]
Mrs. Wilson: That's ok, Shirley, we're all here together. Do you want to share anything?
Shirley: [sniffs] Yes. Just last night.... [holds back a sob] I yelled at my kids!
[general murmer]
Shirley: it was only an hour past their bedtime, and I really wanted them to get a good night's sleep, but... I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't help it! [sobs into handkercheif]
Miranda: There, there, it's ok. [pats Shirley's back some more]
Mrs. Wilson: Does anyone have anything to say to Shirley? [a hand goes up] Yes, Mrs. Friedman?
Mrs. Friedman is an older woman, hair almost white. She stands.
Mrs. Friedman: I just want to tell Shirley I yelled at my kids once. I felt awful, horrible, too, but you can't go back. You have to keep trying.
Mrs. Wilson: thank you, Mrs. Friedman. Anyone else? [another hand] Yes, Joanna.
Joanna: I think we have to remember why we are here - none of us are perfect moms, and we need to acknowledge that and support each other. I want to tell Shirley we've all done something ourselves, and we're here for her.
Mrs. Wilson: Thank you, Joanna, I couldn't have said it better.
[Another woman stands]
Mrs. Wilson: yes, Samantha?
Samantha: I grumbled at my children last week for not keeping their room clean. But I have to be honest - I don't know what else to do, and their room is so messy you can't even see their beds! What can you do? What would the perfect mom do about it?
[General outbreak of angry voices, shushed down quickly by Mrs. Wilson]
Mrs. Wilson: now, Samantha, you know the rules. No one here is ever to mention Those People.
[pause]
Now, I want to thank you all for sharing with our new member. The next order of business is "Homework" - does anyone want to start the discussion?
(Trip dates: Friday July 7 through Saturday July 15) In July the kids and I drove to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, to meet up with other family members at the Fairfield timeshare there. I didn't have time to think much about the trip before we left, and maybe that was a good thing. Work has been very intense for months, and the approach that works best for me is to just ride the moment and not dig too deep into what doesn't need to be dealt with immediately.
Even the first stage, driving south through the California Central Valley, was just like any other long drive: rest stops, lunch breaks, gas stations. I shared my previous experiences of the region with the girls, telling them at intervals about trips Rob and I had taken before they were born.
The first day we drove south on I5, then headed east through Bakersfield and up through the Tahechapi Mountains to the Mojave Desert. We finished the day in Barstow, arriving in midafternoon on Friday, at aproximately 96 degrees F. As we finally stopped moving and unloaded our night's gear in the motel room I began to realize the magnitude of the adventure.
There was a thunderstorm moving from north to south about 20 miles east of Barstow. We sat on the curb outside the motel room and watched it for a long time. We were hit with splatters of rain but not enough to cool things down or get us more than damp. The lightning stood out vividly against the dark thunder clouds. The next morning we were on our way by 7:30, driving east on I40. A few minutes outside town we came to the area where the rain had fallen the night before, and saw pools of water filling every low spot along the road.
We reached Needles by 10:30, making our first gas stop of the day in 100+ degree heat. We crossed the Colorado River and began winding up onto the northern Sonora Desert.
Close to lunchtime we reached Speligman, a spot in the middle of ... somewhere along Historic Route 66. It consists of a short main street filled with Route 66 nostalgia, including a wonderful greasy spoon diner where we ate lunch. Pictures of Speligman are below in the return post of this travelblog.
Shortly after Speligman clouds began rising ahead of us in the east. Soon the girls were on the lookout for flashes of lightning, while I wondered what we were driving into. We didn't encounter any active weather until we turned North to head up to the Grand Canyon. Almost as soon as we did, however, we slammed into an almost solid wall of rain and darkness, with brilliant flashes and rumbles. We loved it.
The storm had already left the Grand Canyon park by the time we arrived. We spent a good amount of time looking over the various viewing points and taking pictures, getting used to the height and breadth of the place.
Eventually we began to feel tired and think about rest. We piled back into the van for the short drive to Cameron, where we booked into the Cameron Trading Post Inn. They gave us a room off the fountain courtyard, a big roomy one, and we settled in for the evening. Had dinner at the restaurant, spent a lovely long time going through the store and deciding what to buy, and finally retiring for the night. Little Rachel and I sat up watching the night's thunderstorm show, which passed about 15 miles north.
The next morning we had an early breakfast (mostly me getting coffee) and headed north then northeast, into the Navajo Reservation. By now the girls had an excellent sense of how vast our American West is! Knowing it might be our only chance to see things kept them somewhat calm about the long hours of driving.
The Navajo country was beautiful, and everyone agreed it was the most beautiful 'middle of nowhere' one can find. By the end of the trip, after driving through the Mojave, Navajo, and New Mexican deserts, we decided the Navajo definitely got the best land in the region.
I took one last detour off a direct route, turning up Highway 163 to take in Monument Valley. We ate lunch at the visitor's center, and the girls took pictures themselves of the rock formations and scenery, but balked at the idea of a tour. We headed sout on H191 to join back with HW 160, and kept moving into Colorado, through Durango and on to Pagosa Springs in a steady rainstorm. We finally arrived at our destination in mid-afternoon, tired but thrilled to be with everyone!
Picture taking didn't start until Day 2: Speligman (pictures are in a post further down) and the Grand Canyon:
And the next day, Navajo country and Monument Valley:
