I want to go to bed and read and I am about to after I write this. I love Gary Crew books. I am reading one at present called ‘Edward Britton’ that he cowrote with Philip someone, Nelson maybe, I really should check. If I was Philip I would be annoyed to read this. The chances are he won’t so I will look it up another day because I can’t spare the time right now to walk to my bedroom as it will deprive me of reading time.
I first ‘met’ Gary Crew’s books in the picture book section of our school library. I loved his picture books and read as many as I could. I took ‘The Lost Diamonds of Killercrankie’ to Tasmania with me when I last went there on a holiday and it made the best holiday reading. I have used ‘I Saw Nothing’ with my year 7 classes for many years and I feel it introduces endangered species beautifully. I loved ‘The Lacemakers Daughter’ and was really surprised by it. Before embarking on the current book, I enjoyed ‘Strange Objects’. I have used plenty of the other picture books, and there are plenty with my classes and the thing I love the most is that he has written so many. It’s great.
Andy’s little clip
I love a little movie Andy made about riding him and Ella to Blonde Bay and Waddy’s track. It is really cute. It was on revver but I have taken it off.
Today I watched ‘O Brother Where Art Thou’ with one of my classes. I love that movie. It’s great. The opening song ‘Big Rock Candy Mountain’ is an old American folk song by Anonymous. I love those lyrics. They are so childlike and cute, yet filled with adult longings. We have been reading the book ‘Out of the Dust’ by Karen Hesse in that class and I have totally enjoyed it all. I hope the kids have enjoyed it half as much as I have. It is another repetition for me of both texts and has deepened by appreciation immensely.
Swimming Carnival and the week that was…
Yesterday we had the annual swimming carnival. It was a washout. I got wet to the bone. This week has been a long one. All the illness in my home has skirted around me and I have felt it creep closer from time to time. My new routines of eating fruit and vegetables and taking vitamins and exercising and drinking plenty of water have protected me well. It has not quite penetrated my health to the extent of really stopping me.
I am reading a book of short stories called “Black Juice” by Margo Lanagan. It is delightful. When I got it out of the library at the senior campus last year, with the intention of reading it over the holidays, the librarian said the young person who had been the one and only borrower had given it a 5/10 and she didn’t expect much of it. I guess that is why I have not rushed into it, although I had read many positive reviews. In my mind I put it in the category of those things that get good reviews because they are all buddies and afraid to tell each other the truth. I usually trust the opinions of the children around me before the ‘experts’ or ‘acclaimed’. In this case I judged wrongly.
This week has passed well. I thought it had been a dull week until I came to write about it. I had a lovely pizza dinner with family and friend last night. It was a great combo of good food, funny, often interrupted stories and much laughter. We were fare welling my daughters best friend who is heading off to Wodonga to study. It was an enjoyable evening although underneath the laughter and smiles, I felt sad to be setting her off into the world. I had that sense that things would never be the same again. So many nights she has spent laughing and being ridiculous, always spontaneously and rarely planned. It is right that they should grow up and pursue their own lives but that is the pain of young people growing up . When they are successful and grown they leave.
I also brought home a ceramic mask I made last year after school. I made the mask at an after school workshop. I was pretty cranky whilst I was putting it together and I really enjoyed the process as a distraction from the hurt I was feeling at the time. It turned out well. One day when I am not tired and lazy (as I am right now) I will put a photo of it on this blog.