My New School!

Today I shadowed the counselor I'll be subbing for when she goes on leave.

Although I'll be working with high schoolers, this school has grades 7-12 and a total student population of just under 600.  It's the smallest high school I've ever worked at by far. 

Here's the main entrance.  I'll have a reserved parking spot just to the left of the flag pole.  When you enter the building, the gym is on the left and the main office is on the right, with a hallway and the counseling offices just beyond.  Best of all, the office I'll be using has two big windows overlooking a grassy courtyard.

These classrooms are the first thing you see as you drive up to the school. I stopped at town hall to see if the resident trooper was in his office to fingerprint me (but he wasn't), and then I stopped at a little local candy shoppe on my way home.  So far everyone I've met in Litchfield has been very nice and friendly, and I think it will be a great place to work.

Today is March 12?

It's pretty warm and dry today, especially for March 12th!  Definitely rare for this time of year, but I'm enjoying it. Kita's at Petco being groomed so hopefully a lot of her undercoat will be gone--less shedding!

Saturday Wanderings

Today we caught up on our errands. While driving down Main Street, I saw a man using a chainsaw to carve the trunk of a tree that had been topped by the October snowstorm.  There was an article about him in our local paper a few weeks ago which told how Miss Porter's School decided to have the tree trunk turned into a sculpture. I asked Mark to stop the car so I could take a photo.

Isn't it cute?  I can't wait to see the finished sculpture!  He stopped carving momentarily to pull the extension cord closer.

One of our stops was the main library to return some books and DVDs.  My new pet peeve is people who don't return library books on time!  I have two on reserve that were due in the past week and they haven't been returned yet. The library requires a special trip from our location but I am trying to save money by taking advantage of all it has to loan.

This cozy area with a fireplace and gas log is in the main entrance area. Mark decided to check it out with a little urging from me.

Then we went into the children's area to see if the dog we donated last summer was still there. Yup, it's in the padded toddler area and certainly looks well-loved.  Thank you, Dawn, for deciding we should give it to them. Mark and I could lay down in that space with the dog and still have plenty of room left over!

A Scary Supper

Mark and I went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner last night, Carmen Anthony's in Avon. It has such a nice relaxing atmosphere and we enjoy their food selection. Mark had the special mussels appetizer and I ate 3 or 4 of the dainty morsels.  I can't remember the last time I ate mussels--tried them once when we were first married but I prefer clams.  For our main courses, Mark decided to try the special scallops dish and I stuck with my old standby, the crabcake. I love scallops but have stopped eating them lately because they seem to cause intestinal distress.  I couldn't resist trying a couple of Mark's however--they were so tender and tasty!

We had just finished our dinners and I was looking forward to ordering my usual decaf cappucino when I started to feel very odd. In a matter of seconds I had a hot flash, cramping, and had difficulty breathing.  My throat was closing and it felt like someone had stuffed cotton in the back of my mouth so I couldn't swallow my saliva. My vision was getting black at the edges but I managed to tell Mark that I thought I was having an allergic reaction and to ask the waitress if the restaurant had any Benadryl--they didn't. I was able to drink down 3 glasses of ice water which helped my breathing a little but not the choking cottonmouth feeling. Mark rushed me to the WalMart pharmacy, told the pharmacist what was happening, and she got some liquid Benadryl into me. Within a few minutes my symptoms slowly began to improve and the pharmacist recommended I let my doctor know since I will probably need to carry an Epi-pen. That was one scary supper! And I never got my cappucino.

Technical Difficulties

The video on my previous post seemed to stop working the evening of my posting so I'll try again even though it is nothing spectacular.

I think taking videos might use the camera battery faster than usual--I put a recharged battery in the camera a week ago and when I tried to take a photo today, the battery was dead. Just as I was going to my car after a haircut, I saw a large red-tailed hawk swoop by with a small mammal (mouse? chipmunk?) in its talons and alight in a nearby tree.  I pulled my camera out of my purse and...nothing! Oh well, it would probably be difficult to see the hawk even with the telephoto lens, but I would have tried to take a picture.

I saw evidence of another mouse in the island on Tuesday morning so we set traps again and got lucky this morning.  We'll set more tonight and if we don't catch anything, I'll sanitize everything yet again.  This weekend we'll try to figure out how they're getting in.  I hate everything about it--the thought of mice running over everything, having to trap the poor little things, and having to wash all the utensils before we use them just in case.  Ugghh!

It's a beautiful day today--72 degrees right now, so Kita and I will be going for a nice long walk.  Temps are predicted to be back in the 40s for the next couple of days before getting into the 50s, which I think is more seasonal.

Volunteering

I guided at Hill-Stead on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. It's fun on so many levels!

Thursday I was on duty with Sis, the mother of one of Ross's friends from nursery school.  Because their family lives in a neighboring town, the boys went to different elementary schools and we lost contact with them.  We recognized each other immediately--not bad for twenty years later. 

On Friday, Rene came through with a group of friends.  Ross and her middle son were in the same elementary school and played together quite often, but their family moved after 3rd grade and we lost touch with them. We recognized each other right away too!

And during Sunday's Open House, one of the "playgroup moms" came in with a group.  Gail and I sometimes run into each other around town so it hasn't been too long since we've talked.  We 4 playgroup moms still exchange Christmas cards with notes saying we should get together, and now Gail and I are determined to make that happen next month.  It's probably been 8 years since we last had lunch together--way too long.

I finally tried the video function on my camera to capture one of the wind sculptures on display at Hill-Stead, but I don't know how to turn it "right side up". Fortunately it doesn't really matter for this subject. I inadvertantly took another video as I was trying to figure out the symbols on the camera's display--you can tell the camera is being rotated while I'm walking around, almost enough to get motion sickness watching it! Maybe I should read the manual next time... 

Taxes are done and ready to be mailed to the accountant--yippee!

March Comes In Like a Lion...

Yesterday's snow turned to freezing rain and sleet overnight.  Hopefully the temperature will rise enough to melt the ice on the roads by the time I go to Hill-Stead this morning for my shift.  I wonder if the bad weather will keep visitors away.

Here's the view from our deck this morning.  However, the greenhouse has several new blooms this week to make up for the snow outside.

Last week's bud on the Dendrobium species from Malaysia has opened and is almost two inches at its widest.  First bloomings can be small and oddly shaped, improving as the plant matures. This one looks pretty good.

It's also a first blooming for this Angraecum sesquipedale cross.  Although the petals are not fully opened, this orchid is 6 inches across at its widest.  I can't really describe its fragrance--sweet with a hint of spice (or did I just rub against the citronella plant on my way to take the photo?).

This little Dendrobium satellite 'Perfection' is just beginning to open.  The colors are so clear and cheerful!  The flower is only 2 inches at its widest.

March can be a long, dreary, muddy month--but it usually "goes out like a lamb".  It's definitely starting "like a lion"!