Sea Girt, N.J.

It is Saturday, 5:30 PM. Ginger (one of our poodles) and I arrived here and started opening windows. This house doesn't have AC, so the windows, and their are plenty of them, are crucial. So is the ceiling fan in the dining room, and all the other fans we have here. It never gets as hot as DC--okay, it did get to 103 degrees quite a few summers ago over July 4th when we had house guests who subsequently never came back, but that was when the whole east coast was broiling.

I have sent up my laptop in the dining room. Ridge is due shortly. We take two cars so we can go separately when we desire. He isn't as enamored with the factory outlet stores as I am,and he doesn't go dancing on the Boardwalk! We will be going to sing the Brahms Requiem with the Shrewsbury Chorale on Tuesday (dancing night, I'm afraid--can't do everything). We do their sing-along every year and it is always some long piece that we practically know by heart. I'm looking forward to it.

Our friends are here, and we're looking forward to a birthday celebration we always do--it used to be at Piancone's in Bradley Beach, but they changed hands and now, to coin a sophisticated phrase, they suck. Such is life. We'll find another place.

Hope everyone out there is happy in their summer!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Halloween, preschool style.

Image
Preschool Halloween parade. Parents rush in right before with siblings in tow. Undressing and dressing commence. Little ones cry or stomp, refuse to wear some part of their costume. Parents coax, cajole, praise. Everyone is taking pictures, even we teachers. How many pictures do I have of four year olds in Halloween costumes from twenty years of teaching? We walk in a line down to the school office for our first "treat", an apple, then on to the church office for our second treat, a pencil. Then down to the Social Hall for a few more, only one of which is actual candy. We dance one teacher's favorite, The Chicken Dance. Next we dance to mine, Ghostbusters. I secretly think my choice is much more fun. The children seem to agree. The princesses (they are all princesses this year) grab each others' hands and circle, giggling. The boys bob up and down, not too sure Batman or Spiderman would be caught doing something so undignified. Not everyone dances. Some are already c
Read more

True self-expression

Image
This is a former student (she's going into first grade, now). When I teach courses on young children and the arts, this picture resonates for me. A child who has the opportunity to listen to music, feel it, and respond to it is finding her creative center. In schools, today, children need to learn through all their senses, through their bodies, as well as their minds and imaginations. I teach my college students that American children are several years "developmentally delayed", musically. As a nation we are more music consumers, than music makers. I show them videos of children in other cultures making sophisticated rhythm and music when they are only four and five years old--mostly unheard of here. I emphasize the connection between musical and language development, and how those areas of the brain are close together. We discuss ways to infuse music and movement into every aspect of the curriculum. Before the state cut out the Community College class on Music & Mo
Read more

Charlie

Image
Charlie is our bunny (the picture doesn't do him justice) who is the exact same color as my good friend's late cat, who was a Russian Blue. He is small, and he barely sheds, a rare feat for a bunny, as my family's experience with rabbits amply supports. He is perfect in his Charlie-ness. Our former bunny, Ed (as in Edward Hopper) was perfect in his Ed-ness. Ed climbed up on our sofas and looked over our shoulders while we read. He ran across the family room carpet, not just hopping, but leaping into the air with verve. He hassled our poodles, running under Bear, the more timid one, and then, when Bear tried to escape, running under him again. I believe Ed considered our dogs as his own personal playmates, a conviction the dogs did not share. Charlie is more quiet. How we acquired him was like this: Last winter, Ed became ill. Rabbits are terribly prone to digestive stasis, since they do not cough up fur, but ingest it. We treated stasis for a day or two and then called an e
Read more