so, yes, what’s that??? the sound of joy and laughter as you approach your return to school??? 🙂

hope it won’t be too bad – maybe even as good as…

“every good endeavor” by keller and leary – wonderful book – great material for the classroom on a proper perspective of work and how it relates to what we do – and as the book reminded me, reminded us:) we can’t sit around and do nothin’ all day – even the people that do this (nursing home) hate it

“tween crayons…” and something else – i forget – anyway, a book on how to teach middle school kids – i know, you’d think i would’ve tried to read a book like this before now – in my defense, it was a newer book so it took a while before i got it – best part??? the author pointed out that some middle school kids act like they still go home and play with toys – and some act like they go home and plan out their retirement funds – in other words, there’s a huge gap amongst the crowd of maturity – i think it will be fun for us to write about whether there’s more little kid or grown-up in us at this present time

i also read the preview material from the paper about the iron bowl – although, i only read the alabama things – life is too short to read about anyone else’s team – and so when dad asked who AU’s quarterback was – when the tigers started rotating – yes, at that moment – while i was well into my prepared speech about who the third-string defensive linement were that were playing, i had no clue that the frazier kid was still at auburn – oops:)

finally, i spent most of the holiday pondering the lyrics of the latest one direction album – my help as i brave very chilly mornings on a long run – i’ve decided that if i were to SCAMPER the lyrics, you could substitute all the words about women/girls and insert a sporting team – which in britain would be football and would be colllege football here – however, that substitution isn’t a perfect fit b/c you can always get over women/girls – there are plenty of them – but a sports team – you just can’t swap them in for a newer model or trade for a better team – no, you have to sit through the ups and downs with them – it’s such a heavy burden – perhaps my second favorite boy band ever will explore this theme more deeply in a third album:)

happy last week of novemember,
mafeld

so happy early greetings for Thanksgiving – another year – another Detroit Lions’ loss…

“Running the Race” probably my third biography on Eric Liddell – an Olympic runner in 1924 – a Christian who died for his faith as a missionary in a concentration camp in China during WWII – an amazing man – i learn, i get encouragement, from every biography about the guy that i read – his dedication to so many things that i’d like to show dedication to – his God, his faith, his family, his running – just a great book – even better man

“the zen of zim” – my grandfather loved an old guy that was the Cubs’ manager back when we used to watch them on wgn – so when i saw that zimmer had a book, i requested in from the library – i was disappointed b/c most of the book was about why he left the yankees in ’03 – good example of a book that probably is relatively popular at the time it goes to print – but it loses it’s importance about a month later b/c it’s now frozen in time and is only an argument for that one moment – and nine years after this book came out, it’s hopelessly dated – i mean, zimmer’s love for barry bonds was even naive in ’03…

“hotdogs and hamburgers” – a dad realizes he’s not being a good dad b/c his son is struggling and so the dad learns to help adults to read in hopes of helping his son learn – the chicago references are great – b/c that’s where they are – as for the teaching aspect, this author seems to be in the first-year teacher mode where everything he tried with his class worked and made them all brilliant learners – oh, he has so much to learn in the years to come – that is, if he doesn’t stop teaching and write a book – oh wait, he did… 🙂

enjoy the break – hope you get some good reading time in – or good time with the family

mafeld

so i’m thinking tomorrow’s faculty meeting needs to be cut short so i can go get in line for “breaking dawn: part II” – you know, because i just can’t wait to see the thing and all… 🙂

“ransom road” – book about redeeming the roads you’ve travelled in life – the first chapter was at the boston marathon – ah, memories – good ones for me:)

“run for your life” – maybe – it was by jim axelrod – cbs correspondent – just in time for the election, i read a book about a guy that found his sanity by ditching politics and running the NYC marathon – great book from the gifted angle b/c it looked at the whole issue of what you do when your parents appeared perfectly successful to the world – but really weren’t great to you personally – the issue of what you do when you can’t match their worldly success, but you’re a better human being

“believe” by eric legrand – got from the north shelby library – great YA nonfiction book about the rutgers’ lineman who was paralyzed two years ago – very sad book, but a great motivating book about seizing the day – the moment – and being thankful for those around you (he has an incredible mother that is his caregiver – and that can wear on a person – i know)

i also read – reread – a book on alabama prep football by ron ingram and rubin grant – two gentlemen i covered high school football with for a while – great book – much better than trying to rally the bama team during commercial timeouts (or tuning out the kid to my immediate left who was trying to put a hex on the aggies by dancing gangum style – yes, i’ve now gone from having my father as a seat buddy to some random fifth grader – sad…)

mafeld

so happy blog week to the three of you remaining:)

and to the rest, happy nanowrimo-ing:)

“lady bird johnson: an oral history” by gillette – LBJ’s wife did a serious of interviews at various points post-presidency – so this is pretty much her words about her life – and it was fascinating – she was born around the time of my grandfather so there was a lot she spoke of that made me think of him – of course, there’s a ton to appreciate from the historical view as well – but excellent life account of an important female when there weren’t that many

“who could that be at this hour?” by snickett – more word play, i think, than in the original “unfortunate events” – snickett goes back to when he was getting started and an initial mystery he worked on – i anticipate the start of a 40-book series in my wildest hopes:)

“clear and simple as the truth, 2nd edition” – apparently, there’s a classic writing style, apparently, english writers don’t use it (the french do) and apparently, it can’t be taught, but it’s not that hard – except when it involves deep thinking – which is done beforehand:) anyway, humor aside, the book was important to be if for nothing else than at the beginning – the author’s talked about how ridiculous it is to spend a lifetime on technique when great artists draw/paint from something else – so to think that you become “excellent” at writing from doing drills, well, that’s just crazy (or crasy:)

i saw a rainbow – both ends – this morning while running – does that mean something??? the ends of both were too far to run to for gold – but i hope your week is golden (not that lsu kind of gold – it tends to fade after a while:)

mafeld