Last week held grandson Tyler’s birthday anniversary and today is son Mark’s which is a double … One of my nieces was also born on this date just three years after my son.
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Last friday was to be the arrival of an installer/maker of estimates for a SoftStep walk-in tub. Son John was here to ask questions and keep an eye out for pressure tactics. However, no one showed up. And a search into the reviews page for that provider were overwhelmingly negative. We may have “dodged a bullet.”
So John and I spent that time going over options. And we have both been doing further research into where to buy a tub and to find someone to install it.
I am hoping I have found someone … a local. Further information to follow.
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When I had been able to make a trip to Cornwall many years ago the first stop after Heathrow was a small pub on the way to Glastonbury. I’d read about public houses and experienced them with Morse and Robbie. However, that first in-person one left an impression on me.
The first was that the ceiling was soooooo low and it was hung with mugs which meant that my 6’ height meant, after the initial bump, I had to keep ducking.
The second was the shock when I saw the first item on the chalkboard menu was “faggots”. In those days all I knew of faggots was as a rather not-so-nice name for gay men.
I asked the barmaid what they were and she told me they were very good, did I want to try? So I did. And they were good.
It turned out they were meatballs made with the trimmings left from hog butchering … meat scraps and leftovers of liver and heart, served over mash with onion gravy and the ubiquitous peas.
So when I came across them in the first Lady Hardcastle book I knew what the Lady and her maid were eating. Never found them around here. The closest I came was upstairs at the Black Sheep in Ashland, Oregon where they served bangers and mash with a black and tan.
Oh, and there was a third thing at the pub … when I asked (as Americans are wont to do) where was the “restroom” the answer was “That depends on whether you are a local in need of a rest or a Yank who wants to use the toilet.”
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Now that I’m back to reading every evening, some afternoons, and some 3 o’clock mornings I’ve been noticing interesting similarities between authors, not so much in styles and word usage, but in names. Most recent is a book in which one of the lead police officers/constables is named Dawlish which is very close to P.D.James’ Dalgliesh. And that’s just the most recent.
I discovered that some of the writers of mysteries which I read all live in the same area of central California.
I wonder if they not only read each other’s books but maybe belong to the same social group of writers.
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Yesterday morning Juncos replaced the Robins in the yard across the street which is currently filled with dandelions. I watched them while they had a full morning feed and when they finished it looked as if they had cleared the field. However, about four hours later, the field looked as full as ever. Guess they were selective and pruned rather than stripped.
(Oops … haven’t yet learned how to handle the new part of this computer to crop or clean-up photos.)
I’m not yet back to baking so I won’t be doing dandelion cookies or pie this year. I’ll keep the recipes handy for next year. Maybe add jelly or wine.
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Fasten your seatbelts. I feel a soap oration coming on …
This open letter is from an Iowa Teacher addressed to FOX News host, Tucker Carlson, and is a MUST-READ!
Dear Tucker Carlson,
Hey Tuck, I just finished watching a segment of your show. You know, the one where you suggest that there should be a camera in every classroom in order to root out… let me get this accurate…”civilization ending poison.”
I’m going to zig where you thought most teachers would zag. I welcome your Orwellian cameras in my classroom. Frankly, I don’t know many teachers who would object to having people watch what we do. As a matter of fact, I hate to tell you this Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson, but most of us spent the last year having video cameras in our classrooms.
See, I think you believe that your suggestion that people see what happens in our classrooms will somehow scare teachers. The truth of it is that we have been begging for years to have people, such as yourself, come into our classrooms.
I somewhat famously asked Ms. DeVos to visit a public school before she became Secretary of Education (https://www.huffpost.com/…/an-introduction-from-public…). It’s unclear whether she has yet to set foot in an actual public school classroom, but I digress.
I sense that you think you’ll see all of us pinko teachers speaking endlessly about Critical Race Theory leading to…
and again, let me get this right, “civilization ending poison.”
I’ve been in a lot of classrooms (more than you I am willing to bet) and think you’re going to be disappointed on that front. What happens in America’s classrooms is teaching and learning.
Your “spy cameras” will see teachers and students working together to be better every day. I’ll tell you what I saw on a tour of classrooms not that long ago.
I saw a group of kindergartners trying to create bridges over running water with basic classroom supplies in a lesson about collaboration. I saw a high school literature class talking about the character development in The Glass Menagerie. I saw a middle school history class participating in group project where they had to solve problems in a fictional city, with specifics of how they would utilize resources and build public support for their projects.
Anyone watching your cameras will see learning…
all day every day. For those who watch your “nanny cams” carefully, they’ll see a lot of other things as well. They will see teachers working with students who have vastly different life experiences.
They will see students who are fluent in multiple languages working with teachers to become proficient in yet one more language. They will see students who are hungry get their one solid meal a day in the cafeteria. They will see students itching for more fine arts, industrial technology, or world languages to be offered in their school. In my classroom, if we’re being honest, they’ll probably hear some sketchy intonation from my saxophones, and I promise we’re working on it. But for sure, they will see learning… all day every day.
To be honest, I’m fascinated by the logistics of your proposal. In a world where school districts are struggling to recruit and maintain teachers, who is going to man your “citizen review boards” (setting aside the fact that public school teachers already answer to publicly elected school boards)?
For instance, in my school district I sense you would need well over 500 cameras going every day. Who watches those 500 screens 10 hours a day (I want you watching my 7 am jazz band and my after school lessons)?
What qualifications would these “experts” need to know what they were watching for? What happens when they catch a teacher teaching… let me get this right… ”civilization ending poison?” Who do they report that to? I’m also curious who will pay for all of this incredible technology.
Maybe I missed it, but can you point me to a K-12 institution where Critical Race Theory is being taught? Hell, can you define Critical Race Theory for all of us? I’m sure you’ve got answers to all of these questions.
Frankly, I’ve never been able to figure out, instead of dreaming up Orwellian plans to have Big Brother in all of our classrooms, why you don’t round up an army of bright young conservatives to actually step up and teach?
Is it because teachers work hard, aren’t paid as much as those with similar educational backgrounds, don’t have support from our elected officials, constantly serve as punching bags for those who don’t understand public education, or is it just because it’s easier to throw rocks at a house than to build one?
Here’s the real deal Tuck, I grew up with my mom making me eat your family’s Salisbury Steaks once every couple of weeks (his family makes Swanson TV dinners) for many years. I struggle to take advice on teaching and learning from a guy who makes a steak that, on its best day, tastes like shoe leather that has been left out in a goat pasture for a few weeks.
I get that Critical Race Theory is your latest attempt to scare your easily manipulated demographic, but let’s just admit that you don’t know what you’re talking about.
With all of that being said, count me on the cameras Tucky. Like many teachers, I’m in the early stages of understanding Critical Race Theory (most of us hadn’t heard about it until you and your people started crying about it), but if you find me teaching it, have one of the Tucker Youth watching your surveillance devices let me know.
If Critical Race Theory involves talking honestly about American history, I’m probably doing that sometimes. I spent much of the last six years advocating for a way for teaching to become more transparent, and in the dumbest way possible, you are joining that crusade. Let’s make this happen TV Dinner Boy.
Sincerely,
Patrick J. Kearney
Actual Teacher
(Copied from Kim Larkin-Floria and Rhae Ann Theriault)
So,‘til next week …