It must be finals week.

Student, napping, in class.

OK, it was after school. This is a great kid. Involved in everything. Student government, athletics, you name it. Excels in academics. And he's just truly nice and polite and intellectually inquisitive and well-rounded and broad-minded and a gentleman. A gem. He was wiped out. How cute is that?

Sunset tonight. The sky was expansive, blue, lightly cloud-strewn today. The mountains were broad, awash in snow and whiteness, and utterly clear. Yesterday's steady breeze cleansed the air of smog, and it was one of those days that reminds you why the settlers moved here in the first place.


Moi. Psychotic indeed. It's what grading stacks of high school sophomore essays will do to you. Ha!

It marches

I'm keeping track of this so I can chart my improvement next semester and marvel in smug alarm at my own lunacy and pathetic-ness once I have a better handle on my own supposedly adult life.

Balance...

...cannot be found here. Nosirree! Not us, man! Never mind that we, as teachers, should be role models of balance to our students. No! If our kids are gonna learn from us, it ain't gonna be from our examples!


[sighs heavily]

Consolation: the semester will be over this week, grades due middle of next week, and I get to claim that provierbial clean slate -- for least a few minutes, anyway.

Insanity is defined as doing the same thing and expecting different results. I have identified the things I need to do differently -- the many, many things. But I think I'll focus on jumping on grading each assignment I collect within 1 day of collecting it (must "eat that frog!") -- at least start grading it within that time span. I also want to work on breaking up my day into time blocks to accommodate my teacher-onset ADD, blocks of 15 or 30 minutes, during which I can exercise, grade, cook dinner, grade, read for fun, grade, plan, grade; at least the grading will be broken up into psychically manageable chunks. ('Smarter, not harder, Self,' says I.)

Self-portrait in car window, courtesy of boredom while getting ride home from teacher friend after euphemistic grading 'party' -- gas station stop required. Note friend, who prefers the blog moniker Madame X, in window reflection, laughing at my photographic shenanigans.

Project

Here's what I'll be grading tomorrow. (This is only six; but fortunately it was a group project, so I only have 26 to grade.) They are characterization projects for Lord of the Flies. Some of them look pretty good. We'll know tomorrow if there's any substance in them. If they've thought critically and marshalled evidence from the text to support their claims, I'll be happy.

Indeed

This pretty much sums up how I'm feeling. Spent five hours on a Sunday at school, grading. Barely made a dent. Semester ends Thursday, grades due next Wednesday. [sighs deeply]

Saturday Sun, Before the Rain

A virtual filmstrip, if you will, of our sunny morning and early afternoon, a brief respite from the spate of rain we are gratefully receiving.

First, my kingdom for a tall building, so as to have photographic access to the INCREDIBLE mountainscape that lay before our eyes this morning. This is about a once-in-a-decade sight. All of the mountains to the north of us were blanketed in brilliant white. We're usually breathtaken at the taller peaks covered in snow. But this -- this was amazing. Sadly, I could not get high enough to take a representative shot...at least not without driving for miles. Click on this photo, and you'll have a taste, at least.

Second, the new railroad fixtures at renovated crossing. I have always been in love with railroads and their accompanying features. I think they speak to the wanderer in my soul -- of possibility, of potential, of progress.

Third, poles and the coming clouds that are currently watering our urban hamlet.

Fourth, dear friends' son, baby CB, is learning how to suck his thumb. Prodigy! (Be sure to note the Michelin-baby wrist.)

Fifth, attitude development, at 12 weeks, no less!

Sixth, baby CB finally naps.

Seventh, incredible tree in incredible sun, downtown Orange, post-brunch.

Eighth, my favorite potato bush and go-to photo subject, up against the garage.

Ninth, guava tree in backyard. The word that comes to mind every time I behold this specimen is "pregnant." We've been bingeing on the guavas this month.

Tenth, the blood oranges are ripening, the blood oranges are ripening! I can hardly contain my excitement. We have about 15 fruits on our little tiny whiskey-barrel tree. The sad part is that I have about 15 different recipes I want to try with them, so that's probably not enough fruit. I guess I'll have to be choosy.

Evening Sky

I love the sky. It's a bit of a fixation, really. I love the hour following sunset, the hour of darkest blue.


I so wanted this one to work. I was at school, however, and had no tripod. But you can see from the colors that it would've been cool.

This is about a 30-second exposure at approximately 9:15 p.m. I haven't done this yet with this digital camera. I'm giddy about the possibilities this opens. God bless the tripod!

The SoCal Locale

This morning we went from this...

...to this...

...in about 15 minutes.
The sky burst open and a torrent poured forth. Lovely! We even had tornado warnings this evening for a while, in certain parts of SoCal, which is a truly crazy locale, as always. Gotta love it.

School Ironies

A red autumn leaf. This is SoCal. In the city.

A sign on the side of school. And sadly, it is true. I was there till 7 p.m. tonight grading, and I'll be there later tomorrow. I live there; therefore, it is home.

True. But dawgs, now...dawgs be cool. (As in, "What' up, dawg?") (The English teacher sighs.) (Heavily.)

More school trees

...with clouds -- wonderful, lovely, rain-bringing clouds. We're supposed to have some on-again-off-again rain through Saturday. Wonderful news! Today's tapered off before 8 a.m., but I expect we'll get some more in the wee sma's tonight/tomorrow.

What happened today

The dawnzerlee light. It wasn't really dawn, but it felt like it since it was before ten a.m. on a day off school. I like the play of light on the tangle of branches.

The dentist. Had a lovely talk with T about travel and rain and spreading one's wings and Elizabeth Gilbert and Annie Lamott. It's why I had to be up so early (stupid me for scheduling it), but the conversation made it worth it.

Rain. Not a lot, but enough to make me happy and to make the sky dynamic all day long. If you click and look closely, you can see the raindrops.

Stark trees. Taken, like the previous one, from the top of the parking structure at my dentist's office.

Dynamic skies with tree tangles and more little purples. Spring's a-comin', bless it.

What I Did Today

(after church, of course). Alas, neither of the teams I was rooting for won. Guess I'll watch the Super Bowl for the commercials this year.

This one counts for yesterday's shot -- a backyard sampling

Excuse: I attended a beautiful and moving two-hour Celebration of Life memorial service yesterday for a 14-year-old gem of a boy who died of wretched leukemia. Emotionally and physically drained, I came home and fell into a three-hour nap, which left me groggy rather than refreshed. I joined my sister and mom and Partner-o-mine in dinner (our favorite Italian spot was debuting its new wood-burning pizza oven -- gorgeous!) and a frenzy of planning and invitation-making to my dad's retirement party in April. I took plenty of pictures yesterday, but I got home at 1:00 a.m. and fell directly into bed without posting.

Yesterday, late afternoon, the day was pleasant, the sun was gorgeous and slanted, and everything in the backyard was more beautiful for it.

The arbor has exploded, a profusion of little purples, and the bees are busy and thriving.

A series of our potato plant, both directly lit and backlit. I love the little grain of pollen on the flower in the second shot.

The leaves of the ash have fallen, but they won't be gone long. Next week this tree will start to be green again.

I'm Stupid

All this month, I've been hyperventilating about my attempt at photo365, not because taking at least one picture a day has been difficult, but because it appeared that my blogger/picasa file was filling up too quickly and that I would run out of space before the month ended. So I've been posting very small pictures, which, in my opinion, drains the photos of most of their punch.

Yesterday I finally read a little more carefully. Indeed, the number I was interpreting as the percentage of alotted space used was actually the MB used and not the percentage. So when it said "You've used 85MB," that's actually only 7% and not 85%! D'oh!

For god's sake, I'm an English teacher, and I'm always telling my students to read more carefully! What chance do they have, if I, their teacher, can't follow her own advice? Pathetic! But now...oh, now...I'm going big every time! :-)

reflect upon reflection

Had to get my shot in today. Wasn't till twilight that I really considered what I could shoot. Took a water reflection shot on campus, after the sprinklers shut off. Took a car window reflection at the gas station, with moderate sunset still in effect. They're a little blurry -- handheld, and I carry no tripod at school. I may have to put a strap on my
tripod and do just that.

ye know not where it listeth

I attempted to take photos of the effects of our ridiculous wind (gusts up to 80 mph), but alas, they were all blurry. (Shock, that.)

Instead, I was forced to ponder photographically the status of my life, such as it is here during Grading Hell. I beheld the clock, and lo, I had been on campus for over eleven hours.

When Grading Hell is upon us, the clock moves quickly, and reading goes slowly, and welcomed distractions abound. Semester grades are due just after the first of February, and I have developed a fearsome mental block against grading certain essay assignments. I want discipline. I wish to do the smart thing and eat the biggest, ugliest frog first. Somehow, though, this seems a more daunting task than I can surmount.

My goal: I will not pull an all-nighter this grading period; instead I shall do daily diligence and accomplish my grading little-but-effective bites at a time.

Vapors

...of both the water and sodium varieties, it would appear. Foggy morning, just before 6:00 a.m., streetlights, backyard trees, and long exposure.

My World

We're discussing Lord of the Flies in my sophomore classes. I think some of them are beginning to get a clue about how civilization can descend into savagery. It's still a pretty raw book, even by today's standards. Love it.

My AP juniors just finished The Crucible. Their knowledge of the Red Scare is woeful to nil. And their understanding of civil liberties is even less. I feel a unit coming on...and I'm already so behind...but aren't we supposed to take advantage of teachable moments? I guess I'll have to be satisfied with being behind. It's not as if I can't teach them the crucial AP skills through this unit. I have to resign myself to the fact that I will never -- never -- be finished planning.

[ed] I meant to add that I just watched Good Night and Good Luck again, in thought about this unit I'm scheming. Edward R. Murrow had some really amazing things to say. I think I'll have to read more of his written work. Any suggestions?

Sultry

FatKitty is the most sensual cat I know. Curling, rubbing, nuzzling...he gets more action than anyone else I know.

Recovery

The rosemary bush was loaded with bee activity this afternoon. May it be a sign that our bee population is beginning to recover!

It certainly seems a sign that spring is fast approaching! (Bless it.)

Fallen

Poor camellia. It, along with many other brethren, has fallen -- a casualty of the rain, or the wind (which once again pummels us). At least it keeps company with beauties of another sort.

New! Long-Lasting! Beauty!

The orchid in our kitchen window has put on a new limb of blooms, here in the dead of winter. (OK, granted, SoCal winters aren't normal. But it has been cold lately. And our uninsulated jalousie kitchen window is rather drafty.) These blooms have graced us for nearly a month now, and only today has a single bloom shown any sign of aging.

I experience a small pang of giddiness each time I walk into the kitchen and behold these little purple gifts.

Icon

I made this at a retreat, after an iconographer spoke with us about the work of icons. A good spiritual exercise, and a good reminder of a number of things, not the least of which was a wonderful retreat that introduced us to a new community of women. I am thankful.

It's not stuff on my cat...

...it's cat on my stuff!