The skin you're in

Today became one of those days where I wish I'd stayed in bed or worked at another job, preferably one with mature adults: The kids clearly hadn't read, we had little to no discussion even though they have a quiz (well, a "quest"--part quiz, part test) tomorrow, and I wanted to tell them that as much as they had mentally checked out, their teachers had similar feelings but refused to give into them. Sigh. So, at least I have something positive to contribute to all of you that makes the day worthwhile:


Just got this from Real Simple a few days ago online: The Skin Cancer Foundation and Aveeno are combining to give free skin cancer screenings around the country this spring and summer. As someone with skin just this side of ghost white, I take my sunscreen and skin cancer very seriously. Click here to find a location near you, as well as the date. Anyone in my area, there are two different places close to us that we can go to, which is a nice change from tours like this only getting as close as NYC and maybe Cleveland. Use SPF 30, people! Don't go tanning! Embrace your freckles and pale selves (or use fake tanner, like I do....)!

Famous pale people:

- Nicole Kidman (particularly in Moulin Rouge)
- The Pillsbury Dough Boy
- Kirsten Dunst (sans the fashion sense)
- Cynthia Nixon (Sex and the City)
- Casper
- Rose McGowan (of Charmed fame)
- Kelly Taylor in early episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210
- Julianne Moore
- Conan O'Brian
- Frosty the Snowman
- Early seasons of Friends Courtney Cox

Any others I can't think of?

Summer Reading

We've decided to do something a little different in my school this year: The English teachers each chose a book for the kids to read, so we have a fairly short list. The students can read any of them (at least two) and then the third week of school in September, we have a Summer Reading Week where the kids meet with the teacher who's "in charge" of their book and we have groups and discuss it and all that fun stuff. It's all-inclusive, so we could have seniors discussing with freshmen, which is a nice twist. We make them accountable but don't do some old-style book report or a test or something. We're trying desperately to get kids reading again, so the list has fiction, non-fiction, young adult, fantasy, autobiography, and one book-made-movie (for the media teacher). Thus, I'll give you all the list because I know I haven't read some of these and I always love to get titles from informed readers. I plan to read them all, if I can. I'll make comments on the ones I know about.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower -- Stephen Chbosky
- I have heard nothing but good things about this one. Kids who don't like to read enjoy it.

The Road -- Cormac McCarthy
- Also wrote No Country For Old Men, heard lots of praise from colleagues

Into Thin Air – Jon Krakauer
- True story of the Mt. Everest disaster

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time—Mark Haddon
- This one's mine; I loved it. It's told from the POV of an autistic boy and has points of hilarity and pathos.

The Kite Runner -- Khaled Hosseini
- Another great one; very powerful; I think most of you have probably heard of this!

The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
- Much more a young adult book, told from the POV of a dead girl who watches over her family from heaven and sees what happens after her murder

King Dork -- Frank Portman
- I am very excited to read this one. It helps if you've read Catcher in the Rye. The narrator is a typical teenage boy dealing with high school hell as well as the death of his father. He finds out about his dad through dad's book collection, unearthing a lot he didn't know.

The Path to Purpose: Helping Our Children Find Their Calling in Life -- William Damon

The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama

Black and White (Speak) -- Paul Volponi

Winesburg, Ohio -- Sherwood Anderson

The Princess Bride – William Goldman
- Yes, what the movie comes from, and the book is much better!

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Sherman Alexie

The Eyes of the Dragon – Stephen King
- Fantasy: A kingdom of old, an evil wizard, a conspiracy against the king...fun stuff.

So I'll be looking at some of those this summer. For those of you who actually have time to read, I think this makes for a pretty full list. Enjoy!

Connections

A thought, which Feather Nester just commented on and it's so weird that she did, that I had to post about it: Have you ever thought of a person, a song, a movie, etc., that you haven't thought of in months or even years and suddenly it pops up in your life about three times within the span of a week? Why does that happen? How does it happen? As I wrote on FN's blog, I think it's just the universe's way of checking in and giving its two cents. Still, quite a phenomenon. It makes me feel connected somehow, though I'm not sure to what. That same universe? Who knows. I meant to post this on Saturday and do a Six Senses Saturday, but I didn't get around to it. :-)

Speaking of connections, I had a great girls' night out with my friends D and H on Friday night-- we went out to dinner and talked about EVERYTHING and laughed until we cried. I'm sure the waitstaff lurking near our table had a more interesting evening; I feel pretty sure they listened to everything we said. My mom did the same thing last week for her birthday (Happy b-day again, Mom! My friends said to tell you the same. Call me and I'll tell you which ones) and they had a blast. We get so busy and it's so important to make that time with our friends, to reconnect. Even if it seems they've gone off in different directions than we have, we can always call them up and get together. And if that doesn't work for whatever reason, well, we do find new ones to laugh and dish with, though it may take time. I guess this little blog does something similar by keeping me connected with friends and people I love, and it introduces me to new people and them to me. I like that.

Happy Mother's Day a day late to all those mommies and mother figures out there--you mean so much to all of us! It's all about connections, people! Call! Write! E-mail! Visit! Blog! Let them know what's going on and that you're thinking of them.

On a completely unrelated note (and that's my M.O., folks, it keeps you on your toes), I found another way to fill my rain barrel: When I let the water get hot for my shower, I put a bucket under the tap and then pour it all into the barrel. Laugh as you will, but it cuts down on waste and fills it up. We haven't gotten the drain pipe on the gutter to filter into it yet, and filling it drop by rain drop doesn't quite seem to work, though with all the rain lately, I have the makings of a mean herb garden going.

I think I'll go home and tend to Penny and my tired husband, who had a regatta this weekend in Saratoga and didn't get home until 11:15 last night, so they both need attention in their own ways.

Happy Monday!

Getting greener every day

I just went paperless with my credit card, and here's a site where you can go to eliminate the catalogs you receive all too frequently: http://www.catalogchoice.org/. This other one's for junk mail: http://www.directmail.com/.

More pictures of the pup

OK, I promise not to become one of those weirdos who gets all overcuddly about her dog in public, but would you agree that this puppy has an incredibly sweet face?

And a funny one?

Check out a few more if you want on Flickr--I added it on the side of the blog.

An Imperfect Offering

In church today, our minister referenced James Orbinski, head of Doctors Without Borders and winner, with that organization, of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. Orbinski also wrote a book called Imperfect Offering; the title comes from a line in the song "Anthem" by Leonard Cohen:

"Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything."

Orbinski took it to mean that, while he couldn't fix everything, the offering in itself was enough. If you do the most you can, it's all right if that "most" doesn't encompass everything. A friend's post reminded me of that and I want to offer this to her and to myself and to all of you. Remember that none of us are perfect and it's the cracks that make us who we are. This doesn't mean, "Oh, I made a halfhearted effort, so it's ok." It means for those of us who hold ourselves to impossible or unfair standards to let ourselves off the hook every once in a while, that what we offer to others and ourselves doesn't have to be perfect.

I just wanted to pass that along as each of you go through your week.

A dream come true

Sting, Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers

Last night I had a wish of my childhood realized: I saw The Police in concert. Let me tell you, as a longtime Police fan, they exceeded my every expectation. You have to understand, as a kid, my first ever "favorite band" was The Police. I belted out "Roxanne" at age ten waaaay before I ever knew what putting on the red light meant. I stood there in the pouring rain with the world turning circles running round my brain. They wrapped me around their finger. I felt total synchronicity with this band.

Elvis Costello and the Imposters opened, and they kicked ass themselves, stirring up the crowd. Great stuff, but I actually began to get stomach flutters waiting for The Police to come on. At various moments in the concert I would suddenly think, "I AM WATCHING THE POLICE IN CONCERT!" and just get excited all over again. I sang all the songs, screamed until I was hoarse, and marveled at these three talented musicians. I'd forgotten, as many others had, probably, just how well Andy Summers can wail on a guitar, and Stewart Copeland rocked the percussion like a madman. Sting has remained a favorite throughout the years, but he would've taken a much longer time to get noticed without his bandmates to complement that voice. They started their tour in Ottawa, so we, as the second stop, got the show where they'd gotten some of the initial kinks out and still liked each other enough to play the songs true. I'm sure along the way they'll remember why they got together in the first place and why they broke up as a band, but we got three happy men blasting out their greatest hits, playing off each other in every sense of the word, and the crowd ate it up, baby. They didn't miss a trick and it all seemed familiar and new at the same time. I loved every single second of that show and have totally renewed my love of The Police.

On another note, saw Iron Man this weekend and I have to give that a solid two thumbs up for comic book excitement, good acting, and fun with explosions but not overdoing it. Plus I love Robert Downey, Jr.--please, please stay out of trouble so I can continue to adore you in theaters. See? The Police have made me gush over everything. EVERYTHING! My dog is so cute! I just love my hair today! My husband is the sweetest man in the world!

I hope you all had a good weekend, too.