Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

The big third graders in front of their classroom.
Don't you just love their braids?

Grace HAD to photograph her cool new backpack.


Grace in my classroom before we walked over to their school.

Emma in my room the first day. You can see my new teacher friend, Carol, in the background, looking for Shakespeare stuff to borrow. She likes Shakespeare as much as I do!


Grace took this picture of me on the first day. The air conditioning was out for 3/4 of the day, and I was already getting sweaty....ewww!


The girls on the day before school started with their fun pillows and my laptop set up for movies.

Hello, Long Lost Blog!

I must say that I've truly neglected this blog over the summer. What was I doing instead?

Well...first, I was preparing to teach a new grade level at a new school, so moving, reading, and planning took up a lot of time. Next, I was working on my Arts and Technology class- the Master's class that happened to fall over the summer. I learned a lot, but BOY it was a lot of work. One of the projects required me to interview someone about a technology that changed his or her life, and I chose to interview Grandma Otti (of course.) I put together a very cool multi-media presentation about Grandma that I will treasure for years, but it was a lot of work. To top it off, the class required me to write a lot of papers, most of which included research. Yikes! The final thing that kept me busy this summer was my family, of course. I really felt like I took the summer to enjoy them. We swam. We went to the beach. We hung out with friends. We went whale watching. We enjoyed every minute with each other.

And now, it's early August, and we've already started school. I chose to move to a new middle school in our district for a variety of reasons. The most important reason? I'm able to take my girls with me to school every day. Their school is on the same campus as mine, so I bring them with me and then they walk over. That has been AMAZING. I love our conversations in the morning, and our drive to school is filled with fun sites to behold- mules, goats, cows, and horses. Our new school looks like it is plopped down right next to Ma and Pa Ingalls' Little House on the Praire. In fact, all last week, there was a herd of sheep and a shepherd in the field next to the school. Each morning the girls stuck their heads out of the window and yelled, "Bahhhhh!!!" Grace asked why the shepherd didn't have a cane and a robe. (I thought that was pretty cute.)

I have a cabinet in my new room just for the girls. They have body pillows to lay on, blankets, toys, and games. They are SET. The vibe at my new school is really that kids are welcome. The principal is really nice and doesn't care if the kids are around on their early out days, or if they are in my room during a meeting, etc. In fact, there are teacher's kids all over the school. That's SO nice.

Middle school is new for me. 8th graders have a streek of silliness that most high schoolers have either outgrown or carefully hidden. 8th graders are squiggly...goofy. They make me laugh. I have probably laughed more in the last three days of teaching than I have in a while, which is good. Still, I am a bit homesick for my friends and students at the high school. We're making it a point to get together as much as possible. Grace and Emma have also had moments of missing their old school, teachers, and friends, but we're all adjusting, and I know it will get easier every day.

Another reason I moved to my new school is that it is the "visual/performing arts" focus school in our district. Although it isn't a charter school, it is a school of choice, which means any student from in or out of our district can apply to got there. Since my Master's degree is in Integrated Arts Education, the fit was obvious. I can't wait to start integrating the arts into my lessons. :)

The pictures above should give you a little glimpse of our first day of school. The girls took the pictures of each other (and of me) in my classroom, and then I took the pictures of my wonderful BIG third graders who I was able to walk to school for their first day (for the first time since Kindergarten!)

So far, change is good.

Why Shakespeare's Violets?

I've had a few people ask me why I named my blog "Shakespeare's Violets."

It started when I went to Huntington Gardens years ago and walked through the Shakespeare Garden, where one group of flowers displayed was Shakespeare's Violets. I always loved the way those words rolled off my tongue...Shakespeare's Violets.

My daughters remind me of little violets, with their bright faces staring up at me. :)

Later, I decided to post some things online anonymously and ended up using the name Shakespeare's Violets.

I remember reading Shakespeare in my 9th grade English class and telling my teacher, Ms. Nelson, that I didn't understand a word he was saying. Instead of becoming frustrated with me, Ms. Nelson suggested that I see a live performance, and I ended up on a field trip of high school students on a bus headed for Los Angeles. We went to see a college production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. They had modernized the costumes but kept the original language. That's all I remember about the actual play- that and a very cute boy on the bus that I had a huge crush on who didn't know I existed. However, I do know I came back with an absolute love of Shakespeare's language. Bless Ms. Nelson for not giving up on me!

From Ophelia, chanting "...Rosemary, that's for remembrance; pray, love, remember; then there's pansies, that's for thoughts..." to the bank of flowers where Titania sleeps, Shakespeare's writing shows that he knew a thing or two about flowers. This knowledge shows he was close to nature, as any artist should be. "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." He not only noticed the details in the world outside, but was an expert on human nature as well.

"False face must hide what the false heart must know."

"Poor and content is rich, and rich enough."

"Suit the action to the word, and the word to the action."

"Lord, what fools these mortals be."

...and one of my favorites, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on/and our little life is rounded with a sleep."

Goodnight!

More Mermaids in the Tub (also known as "More Tub Talk with Emma and Grace")

Emma: How bout my mermaid's name is Aquamarine and yours is Lulu? ...and how bout we're driving to school? And I have a pet catfish?

Grace: How bout I'm a teacher right now? (In teacher voice...) "NO CATFISH AT SCHOOL!" ....How bout I slammed the door on your catfish?

Emma: Oh no! Oh no! My catfish! He's bleeding! Catfish!!!!

Grace: How bout I'm a mermaid, and the teacher didn't want a bunch of people following me around, so she made me sit right there....(in singing voice)- I want to be a nor-mal girl. A nor-mal girl.

Emma: How bout we got a new teacher named Miss Seaweed?

Grace: Yeah. And Miss Seaweed is kinda like me but with normal hair.

Emma: How bout she says, "Class!"

Grace: Yes, Miss Seaweed? (How bout she said we have to pair up with a partner at recess? And you said, "You look really familiar but I don't know you...")

Emma: You look really familiar but I don't know you...

Grace: Every mermaid has at least five powers. How many powers do you have?

Emma: I have every power a mermaid could have...

Grace: What's your secret power? You HAVE to have a secret power.

Emma: I don't have a secret power.

Grace: You've never gone to the secret power store?

Emma: No

Grace: Well, I can't be your friend if you won't tell me what your secret powers are.

Emma: I don't have one. I promise.

Grace: Please tell me.

Emma: I don't have one.

Grace: Excuse me? Miss Seaweed? Does that girl have a secret power?

Emma: Miss Seaweed says that you have to be nice to me even if I have no secret power.

Grace: Well...my powers will vanish away if I don't know anybody's secret power. They'll VANISH! Can you change into a person? Is that your power?

Emma: I don't change into a person.

Grace: THEN WHAT'S YOUR POWER?

Emma: (blows bubbles under water)

Grace: Is it to wake the animals up? That's a secret power.

Emma: No.

Grace: How 'bout they just locked me away and trapped my powers away? (pretending to cry)

Emma: And how 'bout the mean girl Sea Slug was principal?

Grace: Then a bunch of girls tried to get my powers.

Emma: And then they all turned nice and didn't take your powers.

Grace: How 'bout the mean girls stole my power but they're not nice?

Emma: But that's my secret power. I turn people nice.

Grace: Ahhhhhhh!!!!

Emma: Are you OK?

Grace: My powers! Use your secret power to help me get my powers back!

Emma: (splashing)

Grace: Emma! How 'bout there are three kinds of mermaids. A black stone mermaid. A pink clock mermaid...and a sparkle diamond mermaid. Actually there are four. Also there is the light star mermaid.

Emma: And that is the highest level you can be. How 'bout you don't have that level. How 'bout I have the highest level power because I have a special tail.

Grace: How bout I told you about my power. And you were the tenth person I told. And we were only nine years old...and the power was nobody could know what kind of mermaid we were? How 'bout you guess what kind of power I have.

Emma: And then it was finally over.

Beauford

This is Beauford

After a day of roaming the ranch, Grace was tired.

Luckily, Beauford was there for her.

They don't call it the "dog days of summer" for nothing!

Sunshine + Dog + Dirt + Girl = Happiness

Yes, sir.

A Bag of Books

I bought a lot of books recently. When I was in Bishop, I visited East Side Books, one of my favorite used book stores on earth. I always feel like I've gone treasure hunting when I come out of that bookstore. This time, quite a find: Savage Beauty, a hardcover biography on Edna St. Vincent Millay (one of my favorite authors and poets.) I had admired the book at Barnes and Noble many times, but didn't want to spend $30.00 on it. Finding it for under $10.00 at the used bookstore was exhilarating.

Then, for my birthday, I got two Barnes and Noble gift cards. Oh, the joy! I ended up purchasing a bunch of books online. Out of the Dust, a beautifully written children's book about a difficult subject- a young girl who lives in California during the dust bowl who loses her mother to a fire. I also bought The Girl Who Could Fly, a children's chapter book that's been called a cross between Harry Potty and Little House on the Prairie. Finally, I bought a book called A Great and Terrible Beauty. I don't know what it's about, but one of my students was reading it during class and I had to tell her to put it away numerous times. She would smile and say, "I just can't put it down, Mrs. Smith!" That's the sort of book I like to read. :) I also have The Plain Truth, by Jodi Picoult, about a murder in an Amish community, and The Gatekeepers, a book about the selection process at the most prestigious colleges.

Having a bag full of books makes me hesitate to dive in. I like to look at them. I feel their covers, read their back pages, hunt for the author biographies, and glance at the reviews. If it's a new book, I smell its crisp, smooth pages; if it's a used book, I hunt for inscriptions or highlights. I wonder who owned it before I did.

Having this bag of books has made impossible for me to blog recently. I haven't even started reading, really. I just spread them out and look at them and decide what I'm going to read next. I rank them in order. I read the first line of each book. They lay in waiting, like unopened gifts.

Summer is close enough to make finishing them a reality.

Manzanar

Sign at the entrance.

Information about yearly pilgrimages to Manzanar.

An orchard

Gravestone- notice the money and paper cranes

More Cranes

This beautiful monument was built in the graveyard. The characters mean something about "a place for the soul to rest."

Money left on a rock in the entrance to the graveyard. Isn't it sad that United States citizens had to die behind barbed wire in their own country?

A book written and illustrated by one the the students in the Manzanar school.

A replica of the barracks they had to live in.

Hostile, ugly signs like these were plastered on businesses and in neighborhoods.

Manzanar was a relocation camp for citizens of Japanese descent during World War II. It's so close to Bishop, but ironically we never talked about it or learned about it in school. (I think we should have read Farewell to Manzanar and gone there on a field trip, but we didn't.) They created a beautiful museum where Manzanar was, and on the way home from Bishop, I took Matt and the girls for a visit.

The Japanese have a beautiful culture- artistic, brave, and resilient. These American citizens were driven out of their homes. They left behind their furniture, their businesses, their pets, their friends- everything. They were shipped across the state to many camps. Manzanar was one of them. The desert winds and cold mountain air were often unforgiving. One man on the video presentation said that there were holes in the roof where he could see the sky, but his thoughts were about how beautiful the stars were. This same gentleman talked about waking up in the morning to his cot and bedding covered in sand from the wind.

And yet--these people made beauty where there was only unfamiliar. They planted gardens and orchards. They painted. They played baseball, held school, and wrote for a newspaper about Manzanar. When they were finally able to leave Manzanar (after years) they also had to leave the Western states. Essentially, they had to start completely over. They did so with grace and dignity.

I'm so glad that I was able to teach the kids about this place. Matt summed it up perfectly when he said, "This is important. Why didn't I ever learn about this?"

Bishop Trip

Spellbinder Books and Black Sheep Espresso Bar- Some of our Favorite Places
I brought the crazy ladies to my former high school...We didn't go in- just looked around the outside.

An Amigos stop, of course.

Jenni's adorable little guy, Jed

The girls and Jed

The gals in the back of Grandma and Granpa's van when we were on our way to Mammoth. They are holding Naughty, Grandma and Grandpa's dog.

Tub Talk with Emma and Grace

Emma and Grace's last escapade in the tub had them pretending to be mermaids.

During tonight's bath, they are playing with little plastic mermaids in the tub in my bathroom, and I can hear them from my computer desk. They like to play what Jeff and I call "How 'Bout."

Welcome to "Tub Talk, With Emma and Grace" (unedited)

Grace: "How 'bout these girls...they are water saving girls."

Emma: "Yeah, and they go around and they save the planet and stuff."

Grace: "And you wanted to help me, but you thought my hair was trash, and you tried to pick it up."

Emma: "And then we saw these people who were bad and they were throwing trash every where. And we had to help the world."

Grace: (in mermaid voice) "Oh No!"

Emma: (makes sound effects for picking up trash)....changes topics...."How 'bout if I touch water I become a mermaid...(changes to mermaid voice) 'Hey, do you want to go for a swim?'"

Grace: "How 'bout I'm trying to get a tan, but I only get a sunburn..."

Emma: "How 'bout I can swim really fast?"

Grace: "How 'bout you tell me I swim fast..."

Emma: (in mermaid voice) "You swim fast!"

Grace: (in mermaid voice) "Thanks!"

Emma: (in mermaid voice) "Hey...I got some new coconut bodywash. Would you like to try it? I made it myself."

Grace: (in mermaid voice) "Oh, please! Does it make you relax?"

Emma: (in mermaid voice) "Yeah!"

Stay tuned for our next installment of Tub Talk with Emma and Grace

Pug Addiction- A Family Tradition

The girls' homework over the past week was to create a poster on our family's heritage, including traditions, customs, culture, etc.

We were trying to think about what our family traditions were. On Jeff's side, his Irish Grandma Mary always made Corned Beef and Cabbage for Saint Patrick's Day. My Italian Grandma Irene makes great spaghetti. Grandma Otti's side of the family opened presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas, and to this day we still open Grandma Otti's presents on Christmas Eve. We eat quiche every Christmas morning because someone in the family did that long ago.

Then we realized that the MAIN thing that's been passed down through generations in our family is THE PUG. Yes...the little dog with the curly tail, squished nose, and velvety ears has been a major part of our family since the early 1900's. I always tell people that my family had pugs before we had cars, and it's true. My mom and I scanned a bunch of very old pictures for the girls to use on their posters, including the infamous "pugs in a wagon with our relatives" picture.

The night after doing the project, I snuggled a bit closer to little Olivia, thinking about how my great, great grandfather heard the same soft snoring sound, looked into those big brown puggy eyes, and fell in love, which started a tradition our family would carry into the 21st century. FYI...I'm convinced that the girls will carry on this puggy addiction, a family tradition, for years to come.

2008- Olivia

2008- Sophie


2001- Jeff asleep with a pug stack (Peggy Sue and Noel -mom's pugs- and Bug and Ace- ours)


1988-ish- Cocoa, Tiffany, Emily, some pugs from my childhood



1985- Cocoa as a puppy


1970's- Felice and Querida, my first pugs, and my mom's first pugs as a married lady on her own. The story goes that my grandma Otti bought my mom Querida as a gift and my dad grumbled and grumbled, but a year later my dad bought Felice. He's been addicted ever since.

1970(ish)- My mom with Felice

Photo on the Left- My mom, 1949 Photo on the Right- My Uncle Tom and Mom with pug

1940-ish- A young Grandma Otti with her pugs

1930- Grandma Otti's Grandpa (my great, great grandpa) with his pug

1900's- My Great-Great Grandpa and family- they are holding a pug in their WAGON...(look on the lap of the boy in the front seat. The boy is Grandma Otti's dad, my great-grandpa Justin Helland.)

I leave you with one final message...

Pugs, not drugs.

Love and Loss...and Love Again!

When it comes to animals, this has been a difficult couple of months for us here at Smith house.

In December, our cat Miss Priss didn't come home. Miss Priss was primarily an indoor kitty, but she had access to the outside through the doggie door. She was with us for four years and always stayed in the yard. You could count on her to come when you called her. When she didn't come home, we knew something was terribly wrong. There have been several coyotes spotted near our neighborhood and we're almost sure that one got her.

Then, our sweet Mr. Marty had lung problems for the second time in a year. The first time, he endured a pretty painful treatment where they "tap" the lung. It worked for a little while, but when the lung problems came back worse than ever, we knew we had to do the most humane thing we could and made the difficult decision to put him down. Both Jeff and I stayed with Marty at the vet the entire time, and we both cried and told him how much we loved him. Marty was a genuinely sweet, loving boy and an ambassador for rescue pets everywhere. Everyone who saw him wanted to know "where we got that wonderful dog" and we were always proud to say, "At a rescue!" Marty was on death row at the animal shelter in Riverside when a rescue organization picked him up. We found Marty at PetSmart and the rest is history. He was humble, kind, selfless, and sweet, and we will truly miss our boy. Grace is convinced that Marty lives "in Heaven in a dog treehouse" and that he is running around with my sister's dog Lennie and a few of our other lost pets. I tend to agree with her. Revelations 19 talks of Jesus coming back on a white horse, and God says He knows of every sparrow who falls, so I don't doubt that there are animals in Heaven. The gals and I are convinced that it will be a reunion for us...with both humans AND animals alike.

Marty and Emma enjoying a book during his last week

So life goes on, and the pain of loss gets a bit easier every day.

...and a day comes along when the girls and I decide that we're short too many pets. Why...we ONLY have three dogs and a pony! There are SO many shelter animals waiting for our love. We decided to convince Jeff that a perfect Valentine's present would be a rescue kitty.

It took some pleading. Some "But Daddy's" and some sad, sad eyes

...and he caved. :)

We spent an entire day at the shelter.

What did we learn?

There are more pets in need of homes now than ever before. When people lose their homes, their pets are often left behind in the empty houses. Pets are left tied to the tree outside the pound. The owners don't even bother to bring them in. While we were at the pound, a lady was walking by and said that she "just didn't have time to walk her dog" and that was why she was leaving him. My sister said the disdain from the shelter volunteer was palpable.

The animals in the kennels outside were wet, and it was a chilly day, so many were shaking.

The cats in the cat trailer were so ready for attention that many of them swatted our clothing and pressed against their cages as we walked by.

I think every human being should have to spend a day at a shelter. Perhaps then they wouldn't demand "designer" puppies from posh pet stores which merely support the puppy mills. Perhaps then they wouldn't look for that special breed from a breeder, but rather wait it out and search the shelters until they found one. Perhaps they wouldn't think of the mutts and unwanted pets as being flawed--in some way, all pets are flawed, and like people, we work through the flaws once we've taken them on as our responsibility.

I think of our pug Bug who had a neurological disorder that caused him to drag his paws. He could no longer go for walks without bloodying his feet, and so Jeff and I brought him along with us in a wagon. Near the end of his life, Bug lost control of his bowels and had no idea when he needed to go. All we could do was let him out more often and treat him with understanding when he had an accident.

I think of Ace, who, at eleven years old is perhaps the most annoying dog EVER. He barks at the door, chases the vacuum, eats poop, and smells terribly, but he is still that same guy I adopted eleven years ago and brought home to Jeff. Heck-old people smell too, but you don't drop them off at the pound!

And Marty, whose life was extended a mere three years because of his rescue...those last few months weren't easy, but we loved him through it.

One of my favorite quotes:

'The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the ways its animals are treated~ Mahatma Gandhi

The happy news:

We brought home not one, but TWO of the most sweet, lovable kitties in the world. They are brothers, and they love each other like no cats I've ever seen. They sleep cuddled up together, often in the shape of-I know it sounds cheesy- a heart.

The kitties were owner turn-ins. They are nine months old and have the most mellow, sweet dispositions in the world. The girls named them Poe (not the Teletubby...more like Edgar Alan) and Gus (like Augustus, the mouse from Cinderella...ironic!)

The kitties love their new home, and we are going to make sure they are completely indoor kitties so we don't lose any more animals.

The pugs can't believe their luck. They love the kitties, and they love to inspect the kitties, smell the kitty food, and sit next to the kitties, who have an unbelievable tolerance and patience for them. Only Old Man Ace seems a bit crabby, but what else would we expect?

Rescue pets are the most rewarding, loving, grateful pets in the world.

Thinking about a new pet?

RESCUE!

The girls and I (and yes- even Jeff!) would highly recommend it.

Gus loves the basket


Poe is the cozier of the two kitties

Curious!

I don't know many things sweeter than this.

You've got to wonder what these two have been through together!