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| Mountain Goat Photo by Don Bennett |
Weather: Blue skies and warm temperatures in the high 50 degrees. Don is actually able to get up on the roof and remove the Christmas lights without freezing to death or slipping off due to wet conditions. It feels like spring is around the corner.
Goodbye Australians: Our friend Claire left with her crew of 40 students and four other teachers on Wednesday morning. They had a whirlwind time here. On Monday we used our vacation day to visit Northwest Trek to introduce animals of the Northwest to our friend from Down Under. And the experience was nearly perfect. We saw all the big game animals including all three moose, the most illusive of the animals at the park. The keepers fed the otters right as we watched so we got the whole swimming show and she was able to spy the beavers in their den. Two bald eagles faced us on their perches as if they knew how important it was to get the right angle on our camera shots.
Fred Meyer through the eyes of another person: We have a one-stop-shopping store in the Pacific Northwest called Fred Meyer. You can get groceries, hardware, books, clothing, electronics, bedding, and furniture at each store. We don't think much about the store and its amazingly diverse offerings because we are used to it but it was an astonishing experience for Claire. Apparently there are no one-stop stores in Australia. She especially marveled at the Seahawks display set up in the middle of the store where cases of beer and soda pop make up the "walls" while bags of chips line these "walls." A lounge chair is set up in the "room" facing a big screen TV. All these things available to buy in the store. Ha!
Poetry Out Loud: This wonderful program sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts encourages students to recite poetry in a contest that can take contestants all the way to Washington, DC. Each contestant must first win a poetry recitation in their classroom, then the school, regionals, state, and finally the nation. I am the coordinator for the school. We just held the school portion of the competition on Thursday. The winner, Sophia, did a remarkable job with her two poems. She will compete for GKHS on Feb. 7th in Tacoma!
Books read this week:
- Please Look After Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin...translated from Korean, this was a book club selection for the month. It is an odd book because its 2nd person narration. Other than one chapter I wasn't able to tell who was talking. Odd but very good. It really caused me to pause and think about those people whom I love. Do I really know them?
- The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone by Adele Griffin...I've been "reading" this book since November so today I will celebrate finishing it. Tomorrow I will analyze the book.
Currently reading:
- Love is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson...this is my current audiobook. It is occasionally mentioned as a potential Printz book.
- How I Discovered Poetry by Marilyn Nelson...another book written in verse, a potential award winner.
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