Dar-licious

What a great way to say good-bye to summer vacation. This weekend, Matt and I saw Dar Williams at a tiny performance venue in Annapolis, Ram's Head (Take notice of that apostrophe, "Rams Head," and please add it).

Since high school, Dar's music has been my constant companion. When I've been lonely, her music has comforted me. When I've struggled, her music has lifted me up. When I've rejoiced, her music has celebrated with me. Every time I think back to an amazing life experience, I remember also the Dar Williams song that accompanied me on the journey. Somehow, I remained calm enough to tell her this, even though the meeting moved me to tears. I'm so grateful that I had the chance to tell her what her presence through her music and her lyrics has meant to me.

For those who aren't familiar with Dar Williams, I encourage you to visit her website and listen to her music. If it sparks even a fraction of the emotion it's sparked in me over the last ten years, it will be worth the visit.

In the meantime, here are videos of a couple of my favorite songs, "I Won't Be Your Yoko Ono" and "After All." They're great examples of how diverse her songs are and what an amazing lyricist she is.

Gratuitous Cute

While Matt was in Minnesota last week, he got to spend time with our first (and, so far, only) niece, Lilly. They called a couple times, but I didn't really get to talk with her. Two-way telephonic communications are tricky when you're only two. So Matt sent me this video instead, which I'm sharing for no other purpose than gratuitous bragging:

Barley vs. Some Air

Matt has been working hard the last couple weeks, building me a podium for my beautiful new classroom. I think one of the reasons he's so excited about this project is that he gets to use his new air compressor/nail gun.

Barley, however, is not nearly as excited:


Note to the Maryland SPCA: No Barleys were harmed in the filming of this video. The nail gun portion is not attached to the compressor.

Back-to-school videos

At our first faculty meeting of the year yesterday morning, my principal talked about the dangers of pre-judging students based on reputations, siblings, etc. To hit the point home, he showed us these videos. Not only are they incredibly funny, they really are good metaphors for public education.

Barley and the Nemesis: a showdown

No, that's not really Barley ready to go head-to-head with a squirrel on our deck. If it was, I'd definitely be writing a much more interesting post.

Instead, the photo has merely been "squirrelized." For those who haven't caught on to the viral Internet phenomenon of "squirrelizing" photos, this is the original, unaltered vacation photo that inspired it:

The people in the photo were vacationing in Canada from Minnesota. They stopped to take a photo, and a local resident became interested in the sound the of the timer on the camera. Now, thanks to this site, you can insert said local resident into any of your favorite photos (including photos of those who would kill you if they knew they were in the same picture as a squirrel).

The Great Howard-County Get-Together

Matt and I went to the Howard County Fair last weekend. I tried hard not to, but I couldn't help comparing it to the Minnesota State Fair, aptly subtitled "The Great Minnesota Get-Together." I would never have compared the Carver County Fair to the State Fair, so this obviously wasn't the least bit fair (pun most definitely intended). I must be going through a bout of homesickness.

We ate some yummy fair food, but even crab cakes aren't cheese curds:

We saw all sorts of animals, but we didn't really get to pet any of them (look at the way they were facing):
Besides, all the animals had "makes delicious pork" and "always tender and juicy" signs hanging over them. I mean, I always knew that Piggy Mama was destined for a life as premium bacon, but there was never a need to broadcast it. Minnesotans are too polite, even to our livestock.

And the exhibit on Maryland farms (and there is a surprising abundance of farming in Maryland), while obviously a lot of fun, was just an unairconditioned trailer on the back end of the fair. There were no kids climbing on tractors. No one was looking for their family's name on a "Century Farms" list. No one was learning about what their state actually does, nor where the literal fruits of its labor actually goes.

In short, no one was embracing their inner agrarian...their inner Minnesotan.

The Kingdom's Big Enough for You... and you, and you, and....

One of the things I love about public education (and there are several things I love about public education) is that it teaches children to be tolerant. Will everyone at school see the world as you do? Absolutely not. Do you need to learn how to interact respectfully with those people in order to get through high school, not to mention life? Absolutely.

Our church, the ELCA, is holding its annual Churchwide Assembly this week. Among the several issues attendees are grappling with is the consideration of the church's statement on human sexuality. Regardless of all the personal biases and prejudices floating through that Assembly, I hope all attendees keep an open mind. I think this is why I've had this Lost and Found song in my head this week:

"The Kingdom"
© 2001, LOST AND FOUND AND LIMB RECORDS

The Kingdom's big enough for you
You were made to be here, too
The Kingdom's big enough for you
Where you are,
As you are.

So many people pushed away
Ones are loved told they can't stay
The question's what would Jesus say?

Chorus

God's own people close the door
The loud and angry take the floor
We know what you fear
But what are you for?
Furthermore...

Chorus

The idea that one person or group of people have the inside track to salvation has always bothered me. The eventual elitism that comes from this "us, not them" religion is especially bothersome. For example, I was in a Christian book store just today, buying some materials for my work with the high school kids at our church. The cashier asked if I'd like to buy a Bible to send to the troops. I politely declined, but he just kept pushing. Finally, he asked, "So, have you sent anything to the troops yet?" In his eyes, I wasn't as good a Christian as he is. I probably wasn't as good of a person either.

Churches that preach intolerance or individuals who sit in judgment of others because of perceptions (or misperceptions) do very little to encourage others to look for spirituality in their own lives. Why go to church if you're going to be judged? Why join a church if it collectively supports segregation? Those who live the public school model of accepting and loving our differences, however, help create a community of believers that try to live by Jesus' example instead of just talking about it.

Idle hands

Fortunately, my hands have not been the devil's playground this summer. I was worried that I'd get bored with so much free time on my hands. Little did I realize how a teacher's summer is filled with lesson planning and tweaking, class taking and general organizing to get one prepared for the upcoming year. I've slowly been unpacking, sorting and organizing my last-day-of-school car all summer:

I've also tried to keep myself busy with projects around the house. Hence, the great pickling experiment of aught nine. The staff at the local craft store also knows me by name now. I've been decoupaging, flower arranging and painting to my heart's content. These pots are one of my favorite creations:

I would say that any of these things could be recreated for the right price, but school is right around the corner, and my idle hands will have plenty of other things to do.

Vegas Highlights 4: free shows and free money

From our luxury hotel and its series of pools to the fine dining and glorious window shopping, I could could go on and on about our indulgent Vegas vacation. But, like all good things, this must come to and end.

The first half of this final highlight post really should be called a lowlight. Matt and I waited in line for at least 45 minutes to watch the pirate show outside Treasure Island. We were expecting a family-friendly display of madcap swashbucklers, but we were horribly disappointed when we saw an entirely different kind of booty:



Even the male pirates were ridiculous (and terrible dancers, I might add):


On the plus side, the only gambling I did in Vegas was while we were waiting for the show to begin. Note how a $1 chip...
became a $10 bill! I quit while I as ahead.

Unlike the horribly disappointing show at Treasure Island, the one at The Mirage was wonderfully entertaining. Matt took a wonderful video of it on our last night in Vegas. Sadly, it's too large and won't load properly here. I much prefer the one I took at the end of our long walk home anyway:


It really captures our Vegas experience. Feel the heat! Yeah!

Vegas Highlights 3: Hoover Dam

This tour definitely made up for all the historical tours I've taken Matt on over the years. In fact, I probably still owe him a few engineering/math tours, since Hoover Dam is as much about the New Deal and the Depression as it is about the engineering. Overall, it was a great dam day (and that is the first, last and only "dam" joke you'll read here).

Vegas Highlights 2: the long walk home

After our wonderful dinner the night before, Matt and I had to make the long journey from Mandalay Bay to our hotel, The Venetian. We took public transportation part of the way, but it was still a ridiculously long trek:


Somewhere along the way, we spotted one of Vegas's famous (or are they infamous?) streetside daiquiri bars. Since we already had some high-quality vodka in us, we figured a little less-than-high-quality vodka wouldn't be such a bad idea. It made sense at the time, honest. So we ordered some bizarre concoction of cheap vodka and imitation orange flavoring that tasted like an orange dreamsicle. I don't remember everything about the rest of the walk, but I do remember meeting all sorts of wonderful people (including a few fellow teachers and some fabulous gay couples) and having a great deal of fun, especially with the vodka dreamsicle...

The juxtaposition of Matt's expression with the sign in the background makes this my favorite picture of the trip, by far:
Ah, yes. The "City of Entertainment," indeed.

Vegas Highlights 1: bumped and the vault

Matt and I were in Las Vegas last weekend, he for a conference and I for reading and lounging by the pool. Our flight was overbooked on the way there, so we volunteered to be bumped. We were up several hundred dollars before we even left for Vegas (the money came in the form of Southwest Airlines travel credits instead of chips, but still).

But the trip's highlight was being able to spend time with one of Matt's mom's best friends. Georganne took us to Red Square, a Russian-themed restaurant in Mandalay Bay. We spent some time before dinner in the private "vodka vault" where we drank some delicious Russian vodka while wearing (fake) fur coats. Matt and I tasted caviar for the first time and learned how to eat it properly. After thawing out and sampling the caviar, our table (okay, Matt and I) polished off much of the bottle of vodka that we sampled in the vault. I'll post more later on the inevitable ridiculous walk home that followed.

More than anything, Matt and I were grateful to be able to spend time with such good friends nearly 2,500 miles from home. Thank you for a wonderful evening, Georganne!

The samples in the icy vault:

"Just chillin'" in the vodka vault:

It was 20 degrees in there (note the ice on the floor). These shoes worked with my outfit, but they were not vault appropriate:

Matt, on the other hand, felt quite at home in Stalin's lair:

Returning on a jetplane

Matt and I are on our way home today after nearly a week away. While it's always sad when a vacation ends, the thought of those waiting at home makes the return trip bearable, it not enjoyable. As we were packing last week, Barley tried his best to come along as our stowaway:

Hang in there, Barley! We're almost home.

Our Garden of Eden

Matt grew up with a remarkably lush garden in his backyard. One of my favorite stories about Matt's dad (and there are several) is the one in which he dumped a load of fresh fertilizer in their suburban yard. "The corn never grew so high," he laughs every time he tells the story.

We haven't blessed our neighbors with the aroma of fresh fertilizer, but we have created a rather obtrusive garden in the front of our house this summer. We can't grow anything in the backyard because it's too shady, so we plant as much as we can up front. This year, we planted pole beans and a whole mess of tomatoes. They're just starting to produce fruit, and it's about the best food I've ever tasted. Granted, however, I never had any of Matt's dad's mile-high corn.