Coyans in the Czech Republic

daybook
for January 12th

Outside my window...I can see the Titanic...complete with Kate Winslet and Leonardo Dicaprio. Come back on Saturday to see what I'm talking about.

I am thinking...that I like to make my students laugh. If we laugh together during a lesson I feel like it has been a good day.

I am thankful for...our friends, Fiana, Yarra and Kily, who have just returned from a winter holiday in Paris and who will be joining us for tea in a half an hour.

From the kitchen...cupcakes. Vanilla coconut cupcakes with vanilla coconut frosting. Moist and tasty. We brought most of them as thankyou gifts to our many neighbors and saved 6 for ourselves. I ate 3. In one sitting.

I am wearing...a maroon turtleneck sweater, gray pinstripe trousers and a gunmetal and abalone shell string of beads.

Pondering these words... May I reach That purest heaven, -- be to other souls The cup of strength in some great agony, Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love, Beget the smiles that have no cruelty, Be the sweet presence of a good diffused, And in diffusion ever more intense! So shall I join the choir invisible Whose music is the gladness of the world. George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans)

I am going...to give my students their mid-terms this week. There is a small evil part inside of me that relishes seeing students sweat and squirm before a test. Today I was asked no less that 50,000 times whether the mid-term grade would factor into their overall grade for the year. Huh?

I am reading...Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. I loooove good science fiction. I haven't finished it yet...this is weird. Normally, I go through books in a day or two. I guess I have been too tired at night. http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/w/robert-charles-wilson/spin.htm

I am hoping...the snow stays until late February so Frank and Tony can go sledding with us.

I am hearing...nothing. Quiet. Rebekah is at her drama club practicing their play. Roxie is silently reading in her room. Every now and then I hear a page softly turn. After a day of 150 different kids all talking to me at once in a barrage of Czech, this peace is wonderful!

Around the house...we are planning to turn our under-the-stairs storage nook into a hideout. The girls have drawn up plans, including, but not limited to: murals, lighting scheme, furnishings, storage solutions, flooring and relaxation resolutions (pillows and blankets). Or one of them could just live there a la Harry Potter.

One of my favorite things...sledding on the hill by the castle. There has been so much snow this week that we have gone everyday. The hill is steep and fast. Yesterday, we were breathless as we looked around at the artistry of a snow covered wood surrounding a pearl white castle. As we were leaving after a couple of hours of sledding, it began to snow again. Huge, puffy, white flakes gently floating down. Then home to sit with a hot drink under a blanket in front of the fire with a good book. Cuddling a cute kid. Really cool.

A few plans for the rest of the week: make dentist appointments, go to the doctor, mail letters that I should have mailed a thousand years ago. LAZY!!!