one borne every minute

Why is it, that when anyone drops by my office, I always end up doing the groundwork for their bright idea? When was Librarian spelt G R U N T?

I tell them their Mother doesn’t work here… but they ignore me as if I was their mother.

never let it be said

I spent  half a day proof reading student reports. Proof reading apparently is a skill that librarians possess, except no one told me. I don’t need to go into details about my punctuation skills as my daily posts are evidence enough of my questionable skills in that area!

Entertaining though as I knew some of the students that were being described. Comments, such as:

He has an exuberant personality (class clown needs to stop interrupting my class)

When he stops socialising with his friends (needs to actually pay attention and stop trying to entertain his peers)

Good sense of humour and enjoys the company of his friends (once again needs to shut up and pay attention and stop seeking peer approval)

Careless with his possessions, especially his uniform (can he even dress himself?)

One teacher whom  has questionable personal habits, buts his own hair with a finger nail scissors once a year, and wears jeans and tee shirts to school every day, commented on the lack of care with their appearance with about 80 percent of his home class. Obviously the concept of role model has gone way over his head. He is filling in for a deputy principal early next year and we are taking on bets as to what he will wear on the first day. My money is on a tee shirt with an image of a tie on the front. I think that is as good as it could get. Obviously his pedagogy is “do as I say, not as I do!”

Just like most of the human race!

Naughty Thursday

Augie luv

Last night I was sleeping in bed when Augie did a flying leap into the bed and ended up on my head. Yes, he has learned he can jump onto beds and couches.

This morning I cut my finger on his pet food can

Then Augie was sitting at my feet and playing with his rubber duckie when he bit my toe in his excitement.

I luv owning a puppy.

Weekend afterglow

I had such a lovely weekend, I am still enjoying the glow of it days later. Nothing special, just nice…

First a trip to a new hairdresser with whom I was well pleased

Then a visit to the only shoe shop in The Village resulted in a new pair of shoes

And some grocery shopping

Before returning home and being surprised by a visit from Augie Dog’s breeder who dropped off a copy of his family tree (he is a pure British Golden Retriever, not an American, apparently they have different facial features – you tell me!)

Then next day, Daughter 1 and Mr Boy phoned and said they were driving out for the day, so I rang my sister and BIL and invited them to lunch as well.

afterwards we walked around our garden

before we enjoyed the simple joy of eating ice cream

Then after our family guests had left, there was still time for a nap, as we were exhausted from being nice.

A forerunner of the holidays starting in 10 days. Roll on I say!

the full beauty treatment

Augie Dog’s first bath with us

Before

How sad is that face?

and all tuckered out from the excitement…

Maybe the answers to our questions

Mr FD has been searching and he is of the opinion that this is Sterculia Parviflora:

and that this is Catalpa speciosa, (I am not 100 percent in agreement about this one, but he is the agronomist!) –

The insects, I think, are Novatilla virgata or stink beetles.

Stay tuned for more homework! We are still to identify one more tree!

another horticultural mystery

Riddle me this, what could this be?

It starts off with the green pods

Then the pods turn orange

Before the pods burst open and the bean seeds are released

and these guys seem to like to hang out with the fruit

Nightales

As sleep talked by Mr FD:

They should have disappearing little interludes during the talks just to give the media something to talk about, don’t you think?

Julia Gillard and Barack Obama?

Angela Merkel and Vladimir Putin?

Flamingo Dancer and The Big Whatever?

Too much 24 hour news cycle, I fear!

ten, nine, eight… out the school gate

As the year draws to an end everyone reaches their tipping point of exhaustion, stress and anger. An innocent remark can be met by a snippy reply, leaving the recipient wondering what they did wrong besides get out of bed that day.

Colleagues who are normally congenial towards each other would quite happily throw anyone’s body under a school bus should they stand between them and their final year end marking and reporting. It is like watching Lord of the Flies play out before your eyes.

Then lo, on the last day we all run around, bitchiness forgotten, as we wish each other well and as soon as the last student has left the grounds and the staff fridge is emptied, we race for the staff car park and head off for six weeks of renewal.

People outside of education always remark on how many holidays teachers get, but they don’t understand the real situation. For one, we are paid as if we work a 30 hour week to stretch our salaries across the down time. How would you like to work all that overtime for nothing? Teachers do. Any activity after 3pm is on our own time – that includes those parent teacher meetings parents all hate. We appear gratis.

Secondly, it is mentally and physically exhausting righting all the wrongs in our young that society appears to expect teachers to do. If a parent can’t bring out the best in their child, how do they expect teachers who see them a couple of hours a week to do so? The media, is their clamour for moral outrage against teachers, rarely stops to consider the raw material that parents send to us. And it is not just one child we are dealing with, a teacher can have a hundred and sixty or more students in their classroom in a day. Individualised attention, sure. How much time did you spend talking with ( not at, but with and that includes listening to them speak) your child today?  You only have two or three; try twenty eight.

Yet, after six weeks, some of which are spend in preparing for the new school year and learning new skills, teachers turn up again, just as committed to their profession and to giving your child the best opportunity they can. We even forgive each the preholiday nastiness (well some of us, some of us have a stick list) and embark upon a whole new set of grievances towards those that annoy (and there are always those that annoy, whatever the profession).

Then the full reality of the dreaded return of the students sinks in, and we set to trying to right the wrongs of the world.

So remember that, when buying gifts for teachers. Less mugs (do you know how many “teacher” mugs a teacher can clock up over 40 years?) more alcohol (stuff that someone would want to drink, and not regifted) and chocolates (expiry date beyond 2011).  It is not going to win any favours for your child, but may just ensure that the teacher makes the effort again next year.