All done! I will be sure to don the apron and take a glamourous photo of myself. It came out longer than I expected, meaning my pants will be cleaner than ever.

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Substitute teaching is not a task that gets me excited about teaching. As I've said before, it is all too often glorified daycare.

But I did find a note about things I like about teaching, jotted down in Boston.

1. The sound of 22 sixth graders reading silently.
2. A class of seventh graders reciting "gynecology" after me. (Did this come up in something we were reading? I have no recollection.) (Catholic schools don't often discuss gynecology but we do want students to be able to pronounce it correctly.)
3. Listening to macho eighth graders argue about World War I British Poets (Owen, Sassoon, Brooke, etc.).

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Paulette: Leaps & Bounds from Sarah Marie on Vimeo.

My first film! Okay, "film." There isn't really a plot, only a little cat who yearns to catch a bit o' flannel for herself.



Filmed exclusively with an Olympus D-560, which can only record fifteen seconds of video at a time.

Taught second grade today--a good class, nice kids. One of the boys is SO going to look like Riley Finn when he grows up. I graciously received compliments on my boots and my necklace. Well, questions about my necklace, which is a semicolon/colon key from a typewriter. Despite not knowing what a semicolon was, they did know what a typewriter was, so it ended well.

I had déjà vu but it was just a reminder of a dream I had where dinosaurs were attacking the house. Carnivores and herbivores alike, for some reason. A brontosaurus neck easily snakes in through windows.

There are no dinosaurs attacking the house. I am safe. Do not worry.

I saw the first robin of the year today. All the snow should take note & leave, pronto.

I think I've talked to lots of people but not specifically written here: Bruce and I are spending a couple weeks in Scotland this spring, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Skye, Orkney, etc. etc. (I taught a kid what etc. meant today) and I am so excited to wake up in the morning in Edinburgh and look out the window and see this, only from higher up.

And before that, Meera is bringing her remarkable self to town for a visit (I bribed her with ice cream and hearty meals) and there is just too much excitement and looking-forward-to of things that subbing is put in its place via the wonders of perspective and is tolerable; not horrible enough to tempt me (to despair); and I am in no humour at present to give consequence to young students who slight my efforts to educate them.

Time to cease all this silliness and go to bed. (I am enjoying very much Dumas's La Reine Margot, and so begins the first Dumas of the year) (as per this year's vague plans)

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Test test! Strange blog action!

Yesterday I realized there were still Christmas decorations all over the mantel. This was the only place decorations were placed, and it isn't like a mantel is a high-traffic area, but I packed them up; it IS February. There are still white lights in where Bruce strung them around the living room, but they create a nice ambiance and I am not yet irritated by the difficulty of vacuuming around them to go to the trouble of rolling them up, so they stay.

Supposed to get major snow tomorrow. I will photograph it instead of the cats.

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I notice that I often have a few days of violently successful productivity--working, running lots of errands, NOT putting things off, taking care of Very Olde Items on the To-Do List, etc.--and this is inevitably followed up with a few days of listlessness and motivationally lacking behavior, where even a simple task such as unloading the dishwasher seems impossible.

Perhaps I am not pacing myself correctly, or have unrealistic goals or not enough B-vitamins.

In unrelated news, Keaton had a vet appointment yesterday and weighs 15 lbs. This explains why my legs go to sleep when he sits on my lap. Time to think up a scheme to get him to eat less--not so easy with two cats.

Off to empty dishwasher.

PS: I made this dish of slow-simmered leeks and prosciutto on Saturday and it was faaaabulous.

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