Thursday, April 19, 2012

Things That Make Me Smile

Looking for happenings in my week to make me grateful, I choose to focus on what has happened to make me laugh at least smile a little bit.  It's Friday and time to write my Friday Fave Fives and link them to Susanne's blog.

1.  Sometimes I am ambivalent about teaching.  I love to teach but in the spring, particularly after Easter Break, I am weary and am ready to retire.  I'm sure most teachers experience the same feelings of ambivalence.  Then I have a week like this one.  My students obviously took time to write carefully utilizing the skills I've taught them, and their paragraphs show their love of writing and the advances they have made in the past eight months.  Listening to them read their stories, I am encouraged.

I don't teach for the income;
I teach for the outcome.

2.  Last Friday, I went with friends to visit one of my favorite Los Angeles landmarks: The Getty Villa.  The Villa is a replica of the Villa de Papyri in Italy which was commisioned and financed by J. Paul Getty to be used as a museum. I never grow tired of returning there.  I love to wander through the museum and around the gardens.  It was gray and raining, but that didn't dampen our spirits or interest.


The pond near the gift shop was still beautiful in the rain


Oh yes, I could enjoy this kitchen garden!


3.  The Beatles.  Love their music!  Tonight at the university a Beatles Tribute Band called Paperback Writer performed in the large area in front of the library.  For two wonderful hours we watched people of all ages dancing, rocking, singing to those tunes memorialized by The Beatles and sang along too to "Hey Jude" and "Yellow Submarine" and "Penny Lane".



4.  Things that make me laugh.  On the way home from the university this evening, The Professor spied an unusual sight.  He spotted an opposum cravenly cowering, standing majestically, squatting by the side of the street near our neighborhood.  We seldom see possums around here, at least not live possums.  Usually they're road kill.  Possums, as you may know, are not noted for their large brains or high intelligence.  In fact, possums have notoriously tiny brains for the size of their bodies.  Jokes about possums abound.  So we wondered--had the possum already crossed the road or was it waiting until the traffic waned (our one and only car in sight) to dare the dangerous road crossing?  You know the joke about possums?  Question:  why did the opossum cross the road?  Answer:  We don't know. No possum has ever made it across alive.  Poor possums--I always laugh when I see one; they're just so dim witted.  I admit it; I have a weird sense of humor.

5.  Plants for my garden.  Last Saturday, we ordered four heirloom Sungold cherry tomato plants for the local hardware/garden shop.  Some years, for some unknown reason, the order isn't filled. So just in case the store wasn't able to fill our order, after class today I stopped by another garden center and bought four heirloom Sungold cherry tomato plants and two Roma plants.  That's six tomato plants, in case you're counting.  When I arrived home, I noticed there was a message on my phone.  The first garden shop had called to say that my order for the four Sungold plants had arrived.  Oopsie.  I now have ten tomato plants. And one rather small garden plot.  So if you live in hollerin' distance of me, and you would like a tomato plant, let me know :)  I have a couple to share.  But really, you can never have too many fresh home grown tomatoes...

That was Willow's lovely Week.  How about you?  Did you do any spring planting? Enjoy some good old rock and roll?  Have a hearty laugh with a friend?

16 comments:

Kathie said...

I'm laughing with you re the tomatoes! I had 9 plants last year- better start saving your mason jars to do up those tomaotes!!

We don't have opossums here but they sound like our skunks. We have a lot of skunk roadkill - very smelly!

I'm a Beatles fan from the cradle - with 2 older sisters I grew up listening to them constantly. And I love them! That would be such a great evening!

I love that saying about teaching - it's so true- I loved when the kids "got it". So satisfying!

Hope you have a great weekend Willow!

ellen b. said...

Well you had lots to make you smile. Opossums (isn't the spelling of that weird, too) anyway they make me cringe. I'd only want to encounter them while in a car...
What fun to enjoy a Beatles concert. Have a great weekend.

Marg said...

Yea...send those plants this way..buy the time they get here...they will have frozen and it will be warm enough to thaw.
I loved your quote. We just had Volunteer week and I used a similar quote from Winston Churchill.
"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give."
A wonderful evening enjoying the Beatles...Hey Jude.

Jerralea said...

I love your thoughts on teaching. Money is not the only factor when considering one's life-work. I'm glad your students showed fruits of your labor.

I do like to hear the Beatles. I can't think why I never play them ...

Faith said...

You have a great list of faves here! I also enjoy the Beatles altho I don't usually like when other bands try to copy them. I often say the same thing about the teaching job....LOL! in fact, i have as of today, only 42 more days left before the summer break!! :) Enjoy the weekend!

Barbara H. said...

I think we all get weary of the school year at this point. Glad your students are utilizing what you've taught them!

The Getty Villa looks really neat!

We see a lot of dead possums on the road, too.

Hope you find some takers for your tomato plants!

Laura@OutnumberedMom said...

Oh, Willow -- you're speaking my language on #1, that's for sure. In all ways.

I've never been to the Getty Villa -- we'll have to look that up sometime. Your possum jokes made me snicker. And as I read your #5, I was thinking, "But you can never have too many tomatoes!"

Enjoy the bounty!

nikkipolani said...

I keep meaning to get back to the Getty Villa but just haven't done it. Thank you for those enticing photos. Such a pretty place. You've mentioned Sungolds before and it's on my list ;-)

Susanne said...

LOL on the tomatoes. I'm so with you, you can't have too many tomatoes. If I was close I'd ask you to toss one my way but I don't suppose you can throw it all the way to Southern Alberta, can you? ;v)

Fun with the Beatles concert! I love that kind of stuff.

That museum looks lovely.

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

You are going to have a LOT of tomatoes! Loved your possum joke. I see mostly live ones around here...

The Getty Villa and vintage Beatles songs...two wonderful things for different reasons! You've had a good week.

My husband used to have the same teacher feelings you describe...then a student or two would return after having gone off to college to say how much they learned in his classes and what a difference it made to them...that always makes the effort well worth it.

Anonymous said...

i can adopt a sungold if you want me to- i have , um, 10 plants now, so there's always room for more. m

Carrie said...

I love that saying:

I don't teach for the income;
I teach for the outcome.

That could absolutely be applied to motherhood as well! Love it.

Hope this finds you in the middle of a very enjoyable weekend!

Gattina said...

That really was a nice week especially the Beatles concert, that would have been something for me too !

snoopydogknits said...

Hellow there! I totally agree with your number 1. Teaching is definitely for the outcome rather than the income!!! Love the pics of the Getty villa. Have a good week. Ros

Julene said...

Ten plants full of tiny little tomatoes....now, that will be a lot of picking! I got my ONE plant! I hadn't stopped to consider more..but now that you mention it...it might be worth doing! The Sungold tomato is so very sweet and easy to eat!
We also picked up four Roma's for sauce making.

Barbara said...

Has been far too wet for April and May so far to do much at all in garden. Lots of flooding.