My husband and I went to a local bookstore today. I have a tutorial on Saturday mornings and never know how long we will talk so we didn't go out yesterday for small Saturday. My husband didn't find anything for himself but he found a Maxine Kumin poetry collection for me. He knows that I find her work compelling and enchanting. I also got the new Jane Hamilton, the new Kristin Hannah, and a Michael Connelly Lincoln Lawyer book (you didn't think I only read Shakespeare, right?). This finished the gift certificate that I got several years ago.
I also made my first dish from my newest cookbook. Cookbooks were among the gifts I requested at our wedding and after 46 (going on 47) years of marriage I have many that feature food from all over the world. Tonight's dinner was from the new Del Posto cookbook. We have eaten at the restaurant a few times so we thought the new cookbook might fill in the gaps between visits to NYC. As a side note before I describe the meal and its preparation, although it might seem strange to eat so early, it is better if you arrive very early--the 4:30 slot is good--because then the restaurant is not completely filled with people. At that time your server will be more attentive and your experience will be more pleasant. I never find it fun or interesting to have to wait in line for access to the women's restroom.
Anyway, I made the red lamb sausage with orrechiete for dinner. Oh my goodness was that good. Definitely not health food with the lamb, 14 tablespoons of butter, and a bucket of grated Parmesan cheese, but the flavor combinations were spectacular. I don't know if the restaurant serves this as a primo piatti or what but we both had small servings and were more than satisfied.
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Friday, November 25, 2016
Still Crazy
I spent the morning putting up angels. As I wrote previously, there aren't as many angels as there are nutcrackers or even Santas and snowmen but there are still several.
Holiday Decorating
Last year was a nutcracker year but this year will be an angel year. We don't have quite as many angels but they still make a crazy display. I think I mean crazy in a good way although I am never sure. I will post pictures once the work is done.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Happy Thanksgiving
For the first time in 46 years I am changing the menu for Thanksgiving dinner. I have a very large turkey breast and two drumsticks that I am going to cook with pan vegetables in the oven in a Calphalon. Then the side dishes will be leek flan, mashed potatoes, green beans from our summer garden, and a mix of farro, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, dried cranberries, and onions. No pumpkin pie this year even though we have a few pumpkins left from our harvest, but pecan pie and Kentucky butter cake as usual.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Weird and Wacky
We had our first snowfall two days ago but yesterday the temperature rose well over 60F and today at 5 am it was 45F. So far the chances of our drought situation changing this winter seem slim. Even the plants are confused about the weather. I have daffodils and violets blooming in my yard and I saw some bearded iris in a neighbor's yard this week.
Friday, November 18, 2016
A Long Time Ago
When I was a high school student, nearly fifty years ago, there was a test that made the circuit of teachers. It didn't matter whether the teachers were in Massachusetts or Texas; what mattered was how students reacted. I was very good at taking tests. I was never nervous, never worried about the results.
So this particular test was simply given to students as soon as they entered the classroom with little to no introduction other than to read all of the instructions. As I remember the class groaned a little since there had been no preparation for the test, but all of us took out our number 2 pencils (remember that ?) and began to answer the questions posed by the test which the instructions said were to take 30 minutes. I read the instructions through and the final instruction was to lay my pencil down and sit quietly. That's what I did. My classmates who were busy answering questions, looked at me in astonishment and with puzzled faces. The thirty minutes dragged on but my beleaguered classmates continued to answer the questions while I continued to simply sit.
The point of this story is that the point of the test was to read all the instructions of anything whether it's a quiz in a classroom or how to use a paint product or tool.
I read some essays for a class yesterday. The prompt was very clear. It told students to "note briefly" the social or political changes that the author advocated, and then, "analyze the techniques" used to convince readers. Well, as you might already know, the students noted at length what changes Charles Dickens advocated for in Hard Times without ever getting to how he convinced his readers.
The most astonishing part to me is that Hard Times is so clear about the author's various techniques. The list could begin with tone and move through foreshadowing, imagery. voice, etc.
Charles Dickens is never subtle in his writing and Hard Times is perhaps his least subtle work.
Consequently when students wrote essays that only answered the "note briefly" without actually noting anything briefly but rather at great length, I did not feel inclined to reward them even if their writing was decent. In a similar fashion, if students only discussed one technique (characterization was the common choice), I did not reward their efforts even if the writing was all right. Of course most of the time the writing was mediocre with grammar and spelling errors throughout but that is only one aspect of the essay score. The teacher told me that they had spent an entire class period, 90 minutes, discussing what the prompt expected. That means most of the students were like my classmates of 50 years ago--they listened to the opening words, but then set off on a frolic of their own.
Nowadays everyone wants students to be computer, science, math whizzes when they finish high school. Besides the fact that that isn't working very well, students need to be able to read a piece of writing or hear a commercial and understand how the creator has altered the thinking of the reader or listener. This isn't simply the key to appreciating literature--it is the key to understanding how political speech, commercial speech, romantic overtures alter the reader or listener's understanding. The students whose essays I scored are not college ready. If they end up scoring a 3 or above it will be a shame if they are given college credit.
So this particular test was simply given to students as soon as they entered the classroom with little to no introduction other than to read all of the instructions. As I remember the class groaned a little since there had been no preparation for the test, but all of us took out our number 2 pencils (remember that ?) and began to answer the questions posed by the test which the instructions said were to take 30 minutes. I read the instructions through and the final instruction was to lay my pencil down and sit quietly. That's what I did. My classmates who were busy answering questions, looked at me in astonishment and with puzzled faces. The thirty minutes dragged on but my beleaguered classmates continued to answer the questions while I continued to simply sit.
The point of this story is that the point of the test was to read all the instructions of anything whether it's a quiz in a classroom or how to use a paint product or tool.
I read some essays for a class yesterday. The prompt was very clear. It told students to "note briefly" the social or political changes that the author advocated, and then, "analyze the techniques" used to convince readers. Well, as you might already know, the students noted at length what changes Charles Dickens advocated for in Hard Times without ever getting to how he convinced his readers.
The most astonishing part to me is that Hard Times is so clear about the author's various techniques. The list could begin with tone and move through foreshadowing, imagery. voice, etc.
Charles Dickens is never subtle in his writing and Hard Times is perhaps his least subtle work.
Consequently when students wrote essays that only answered the "note briefly" without actually noting anything briefly but rather at great length, I did not feel inclined to reward them even if their writing was decent. In a similar fashion, if students only discussed one technique (characterization was the common choice), I did not reward their efforts even if the writing was all right. Of course most of the time the writing was mediocre with grammar and spelling errors throughout but that is only one aspect of the essay score. The teacher told me that they had spent an entire class period, 90 minutes, discussing what the prompt expected. That means most of the students were like my classmates of 50 years ago--they listened to the opening words, but then set off on a frolic of their own.
Nowadays everyone wants students to be computer, science, math whizzes when they finish high school. Besides the fact that that isn't working very well, students need to be able to read a piece of writing or hear a commercial and understand how the creator has altered the thinking of the reader or listener. This isn't simply the key to appreciating literature--it is the key to understanding how political speech, commercial speech, romantic overtures alter the reader or listener's understanding. The students whose essays I scored are not college ready. If they end up scoring a 3 or above it will be a shame if they are given college credit.
Saturday, November 12, 2016
Progress on Project
I finished the applique on the new quilt, Summer Stars, and I spent part of yesterday and part of today layering it. I haven't started quilting yet because simultaneously I received two sets of essays on tone from one of my teachers. The curious problem is that I haven't been paid for the work I have done to this point, about sixty hours worth, with no clear end in sight. Though I have been doing the same work for nearly 25 years, the district changes its guidelines for pay every year. They don't inform me ahead of time and they don't inform the teachers either. I know they have limited funds, this state is the lowest per pupil expenditure in the entire nation, but there isn't very good communication--a common problem in large entities. I would be perfectly happy if I could get something from the district that allows me a tax deduction, but I cannot get that either. The final result will be that I won't score essays any more, the teachers won't be able or willing to score them, the students will lose out.
The new quilt is happy. I am happy because I have already found a home for it. That doesn't happen that often so it is a cause for celebration.
As an addendum to my previous comment--Trump clearly didn't expect to win. Now he doesn't know what to do. The turmoil in his campaign is now occurring in his transition. Just wait until he has to appear in court on his fraud charges. This is not a good event since he is clearly and demonstrably incapable of handling criticism.
Once again, I am very sorry that this has come to pass.
The new quilt is happy. I am happy because I have already found a home for it. That doesn't happen that often so it is a cause for celebration.
As an addendum to my previous comment--Trump clearly didn't expect to win. Now he doesn't know what to do. The turmoil in his campaign is now occurring in his transition. Just wait until he has to appear in court on his fraud charges. This is not a good event since he is clearly and demonstrably incapable of handling criticism.
Once again, I am very sorry that this has come to pass.
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Memory Lane
My husband and I just got back from four days in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I know we just got back from Italy, but there was a concert in Massachusetts we wanted to see so we thought we would take my young friend and some of her friends to dinner as well. Visiting Harvard is always interesting though not always a barrel of laughs. The weather was very good, crisp fall air and sunshine, beautiful colors on the trees.
The concert was up practically in New Hampshire in a very small town named Salisbury. Part of the year it is a beach destination but luckily all the pizza shacks and soft serve ice cream joints were closed for the season. The concert was Tom Rush. Most readers have probably never heard of him but I had a huge crush on him when I was 13 or so, more than fifty years ago. He is and was an acoustic guitar, sort of folk singer. He also went to Harvard though he is nearly a decade older than either my husband or me so there was no overlap. Well he is around 75 now but that hasn't changed much. For a very short period in the 60's and early 70's he had a record contract with Elektra and some of his records had much bigger production style from what he started with or what he does now. The record company wanted him to be more of a rock guy but he was more of a coffee house type. Anyway, he still is an amazing guitar player, still sings reasonably well though his vocal range isn't quite what it was. And he is just a funny guy, good sense of humor, funny stories. We have been to a couple of concerts before and this wasn't a let down in any way. He joked that he was having his own grandchildren since he has a 16 year old daughter now.
While we were in Cambridge we visited my husband's old dorm, went to a couple of the buildings where his primary classes were, went to the Fogg Art Museum and Mt. Auburn Cemetery. The funniest episode was at the Natural History Museum. We were looking at the displays about evolution and came to two Galapagos tortoises. The didactic information on one of the tortoises had the name misspelled. It's not that I am such an expert on Galapagos tortoises but I was pretty sure that "Alebmarle" wasn't right. My husband tried to find it on his smartphone but couldn't and then I noticed that the tortoise still had one of those old manila tags wired to his neck. It was sort of tucked under the shell carapace but I was able to read the original information and sure enough it read "Albemarle" as I was sure it should. Naturally I sent an email to the museum staff. I am sort of a pain in the neck but there are so many school groups going through there that having errors just doesn't seem like a good idea.
The concert was up practically in New Hampshire in a very small town named Salisbury. Part of the year it is a beach destination but luckily all the pizza shacks and soft serve ice cream joints were closed for the season. The concert was Tom Rush. Most readers have probably never heard of him but I had a huge crush on him when I was 13 or so, more than fifty years ago. He is and was an acoustic guitar, sort of folk singer. He also went to Harvard though he is nearly a decade older than either my husband or me so there was no overlap. Well he is around 75 now but that hasn't changed much. For a very short period in the 60's and early 70's he had a record contract with Elektra and some of his records had much bigger production style from what he started with or what he does now. The record company wanted him to be more of a rock guy but he was more of a coffee house type. Anyway, he still is an amazing guitar player, still sings reasonably well though his vocal range isn't quite what it was. And he is just a funny guy, good sense of humor, funny stories. We have been to a couple of concerts before and this wasn't a let down in any way. He joked that he was having his own grandchildren since he has a 16 year old daughter now.
While we were in Cambridge we visited my husband's old dorm, went to a couple of the buildings where his primary classes were, went to the Fogg Art Museum and Mt. Auburn Cemetery. The funniest episode was at the Natural History Museum. We were looking at the displays about evolution and came to two Galapagos tortoises. The didactic information on one of the tortoises had the name misspelled. It's not that I am such an expert on Galapagos tortoises but I was pretty sure that "Alebmarle" wasn't right. My husband tried to find it on his smartphone but couldn't and then I noticed that the tortoise still had one of those old manila tags wired to his neck. It was sort of tucked under the shell carapace but I was able to read the original information and sure enough it read "Albemarle" as I was sure it should. Naturally I sent an email to the museum staff. I am sort of a pain in the neck but there are so many school groups going through there that having errors just doesn't seem like a good idea.
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