Things I love about summer:
-Last Day of School parties for teachers: my mom always hosted her school's Last Day of School party, so I feel as if I'm finally on the "inside." (Not that this was a dream of mine or anything; basically, I spent a lot of time trying to find a career that was different than my parents'...but clearly it's come to this.)
-Having time to watch and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of thunder and lightening storms.
-Yoga: I've taken up Bikram yoga now that I have spare time and made a commitment to myself that I will go at least twice a week during the school year. We'll see how long that lasts, but in the meantime, I'm enjoying my temporary fantasy land.
- The book Healthy at 100: This is a blow-you-away-kind of book (it's no New Earth but good supplemental reading), and I highly recommend NOT reading it if you want to continue to enjoy eating the foods you currently love. However, if you would like to try to develop a different taste pallet and take a quest that will provide you with a gastronomic return to your roots (I know, cheesy pun; haha, another corny pun; haha, another one. I'll stop that now. I've never done that before!!), this is the perfect read for you. Honestly, it's a life-changing book that I wish I never read. Naivety is bliss.
-Good first dates.
-Watching MY garden grow: Yes, mine. Not my grandmother's, not my neighbor's (I do peep over her fence sometimes, though, because her garden is about double the size of mine in size and height of her plants), and not Mary's. MY garden is "growing"! But according to the lady at the farmers' market today, my basil seems to be developmentally stunted. She told me not to worry though because it would keep growing through September. I didn't tell her my life is over for the next nine months on August 15--give or take a few days. I'm hoping for one dish pesto.
-Farmers' markets: Oo la la and basil by the bunch.
-Experimental cooking: Although I've burnt at one ingredient in each of my meals thus far, I have what I believe to be an obtainable goal--one complete unburnt meal by the end of the summer that includes ingredients from my garden.
-Maine: This leads me to my next goal for the summer--spend one night in Maine in our family's summer "cottage" by myself. This is my Thoreauesque attempt to live the dream. This goal does not seem so achievable mostly because I can't walk into a basement without having a slight panic attack. I'm working on the basement thing first; once I can handle that, I'll start working on the big, bad, scary woods of Maine.
-Good second dates.
-Long car rides up the through Massachusetts and New Hampshire; such rides include windows down, seafood lunches, a tarot card reading (I've only done this a couple of time in my life, but it's a perk that comes along with spontaneity), drifting in and out of artist and clothing boutiques, and walking along cobble-stoned streets.
-Gently tossing ideas about school around in my head: This is one of the best types of prepping. I love it. Ideas float around in my head about school but there is no pressure to turn them into concrete lesson plans. It's kind of like trying to develop the perfect ice cream sundae and having months of time to do it. Maybe a little of this? How about a little of that? Will this taste good with that? Will these flavors blend well or not? What do I want that first bite to be like? The last bite? What's the overall concept? Will others buy it? Love it? It's kind of like prepping Ben-and-Jerry's style. I dig it.*
-Listening to birds chirp.
-The big questions: The question that is looming in my mind today is whether or not I will require the students to read Macbeth in full when we read it in December. I'm thinking I need to find a more creative way to have them engage with the concepts, language, conventions and beauty of the text than having students read it cover to cover. With the trimester schedule we don't have a lot of time, and I think I could find something really engaging and pertinent to do with it that didn't require a host of uninterested "volunteer" "actors" reading it to an uninterested classroom full of students. I love dreaming up these big ideas, and it just seems like there is not enough time during the school year. I love prepping. I love dreaming. I love when I can do both at the same time.
I love summer.
*I think this is a sign that Healthy at 100 has totally screwed with my mind. I love ice cream, I want ice cream, I need ice cream, but the author Tom Robbins (as in Baskin-Robbins) kind of convinced me it shouldn't be a daily summer treat. Hence the awful prepping-ice cream metaphor. I apologize.
