One: Last weekend I went to 2010 Wedding #3 of 4 (Kate and Nathanael), which involved a trip out to Rhode Island, a drive to Connecticut, and a lame affair of a phone I totally misplaced in my own car and spent about nine hours worrying about. I am so thankful, however, that this came prior to an entire week of class periods that I didn't have to do any outside prepwork for (Monday: computer workday. Wednesday: peer review. Today: Unit wrap-up, a couple of quick grammar/usage lessons, and everyone getting out between ten and twenty minutes early). It's been a nice week. A little lazier than was really necessary, but nice.
Two: I also did today, in class, a writing exercise I shamelessly stole from another teacher: have students list the parts of a tree, then have them write a paragraph describing a tree without using any of those words (hint: also ban the use of naming any specific type of tree, like oak or pine or what have you). It may also help if you yourself write your own paragraph and show yours first by way of getting a class's vulnerability problem out of the way, especially if they can tell that it wasn't the easiest thing for you, either. I used it to give them a practical taste of what I meant by writing subjectively, in images/metaphors/etc., rather than objectively and in simplified statements. ...As you may guess, I am getting used to my students occasionally giving me incredulous looks. But I'm also seeing a few of them grinning, too.
Three: By the way, the whole wedding thing is not done yet. Remember that I said #3 of four; I still have John and Libby's to go to in October. This finale will, unfortunately, probably lead to my getting home past midnight and then having to teach real live lessons the next morning at 8 and 9 AM, since BCC doesn't allow adjuncts to cancel classes without having to make them up. (For what little it's worth, said wedding will also deprive me of the right to sing with truthfulness, with the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, that I've never been to Boston in the fall.) But it should be worth it!
Four: Jo, I'm sorry I still haven't written anything about your wedding. Though at least the fourteen gazillion pictures people've put up on Facebook are doing much of the commemoration for me in the meantime.
Five: Carrie and I found in the cupboard the other day, to our surprise and perplexity, pretty much every kind of canned bean anyone ever wants except the kind we wanted, which was black beans. Our stock included - seriously, we have no idea - five cans of chickpeas, and none of them even set to pass the sell-by date anytime soon. Obligingly, I made Mark Bittman's chicken-and-chickpea tagine for dinner that night (though I think the version of his recipe that I have is a little different from the linked one). It was a little time-consuming, but worth the work.
Six: Also found in a different cupboard (those of you with Facebook have heard this, but I'll tell it anyway) and, not realizing how old they were, bitten into: Wegmans wheat entertainment crackers...four years past the use-by date. No moldy look. But the taste was basically of Brie rind and chalk. Guess what crackers I'm not going to be able to eat again for a while. (Heh. Gives the phrase "chalk and cheese" new meaning.)
Seven: While I do not recommend the apple-cider scent of those Yankee Candle hangy-down car fresheners (I really had such high hopes for that one, since the regular apple scent's so good, but no), I do recommend getting yourself to your local cider mill soon and - pay attention! This is one of the only times out of the whole year that I'm going to tell you to buy a grocery item from somewhere other than Wegmans! - celebrating the impending beginning of fall with a gallon of the real stuff. Maybe that's what I'll bring to Zack and Ife's potluck tomorrow. But I should really bring a main dish instead. Anyone have good ideas for vegetarian ones, or at least ones that don't mix meat with milk products?
Want more quick takes? Go see Jen.