I confess that I was at Jo-Ann Fabrics buying body parts for my Spanish class. Every year when Halloween approaches, I go on the hunt for some new visual to help teach body vocabulary. So far I have a skeleton (Mr. Bones), a pair of waxed lips, and, as of today, a giant set of…
My son has started vlogging, because there’s nothing else to do at college, right? But what a gift to this momma, who is at the tip-top of Montana while her boy is in central Texas. His Youtube videos give me a glimpse into his life every week, and he makes me smile. Recently, Caleb asked…
We are a lovely shade of purple here today. That’s the real-time air quality report color for Kalispell, Montana: very unhealthy –just a scosh under bright red, which is hazardous. Lungs are burning. Asthma inhalers are being used more often. We can look right at the sun in broad daylight, which is kind of funny…
My last teaching job was in 1994. When I re-entered the teaching field a few years ago, I noticed teachers were talking about a new-fangled tool called a rubric. What in the world was a rubric? So I used “the Google” (something else that didn’t exist in 1994) and learned a rubric is a chart…
She told me she watched a spotter plane fly around behind her house for a long time. Then came the helicopters, with water bags hanging heavy and low. They dropped bag after bag of water on a fire that had re-ignited in an old burn pile. It’s been a summer of high temperatures and no…
Such lovely tomatoes Matt plucked from his garden pots and put in the window sill to finish ripening. I donned an apron and set about dicing them and making them into bruschetta, while I listened to a panel discussion online about the theology of work. The panel took a question, written by a man who…
Four years ago I walked into my new Spanish classroom and set down my purse on the desk. Me and my purse –that was what I came with, to this incredibly challenging job of teaching. “Newb” is what the young people call it. Brand new teacher with no experience and nothing up my sleeve. I…
It seems old fashioned now, but my family used to go to prayer meeting. A generous handful of us would exchange warm, family-style greetings and then get cozy in the church pews. Then people would start making prayer requests. Somebody would ask us to pray for their aunt who was having surgery. Somebody else would…
In case you ever need to know, there is a place of almost complete solitude, in the C concourse of the Portland airport. I know why. In the walkway, just before you get here, is a play place. This surely acts as a great deterrent. But I tell you to stay the course and walk…
Hey guys, I was really something the other night at a wedding shower. The bride was opening her lovely gifts, and one present was a muffin pan. “You know,” I told the bride, “I use a muffin pan to cook meatloaf, because it takes half the cooking time.” Instant fame. Apparently that was the best…
So this happened a few days ago: That’s right. Me and that man in a hot little Porsche. You know –preacher’s salary and a part-time teacher. That’s how we roll. Or maybe we have generous friends who let us play with their very nice toy for the day. What you need to know is that…
Four years ago I walked into my new Spanish room –with nothing. I knew Spanish and I knew teaching, but I had never put the two together until that day in August. Searching the room, I found nothing but a few games and two sets of outdated textbooks. So I started writing curriculum and building…
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