In the beginning was the word
and the word was everything inside and apart.

Sound created matter and words formed them into beings.
The Apple was just the start.

Ah is the sound of wonder and what better way to enter
the world, into the alphabet and the pieces of our written heart?

Today is my sister R's birthday. I believe that makes her 39. One more year to be 30 lucky girl. And soon I will see her. There are seven of us and she is the youngest sister but don't let that fool you. She is certainly quite a commanding person. And I am wishing her a magical year. Go Girl!

For the next month I will be posting every day as part of the A to Z challenge. In this way I will finish my Waldorf Alphabet Book AND find a way to post/write more regularly. It will also keep me from going crazy waiting to find out whether I got a job in Seattle.

Blessings on the month of March and wishes for present-mindedness for April!

Yesterday the girls returned from the enforced Elizabeth-is-looking-for-a-job break from homeschooling. We got right into it.

Here are two forms we moved first before drawing. That is, each of us took our place on a triangle and one after the other moved one color section of the form. The two forms are similar enough to show how straight lines and curved lines can really feel so profoundly different.


And on to Pythagoras...

Statement on the Pending Reduction of Intercountry Adoption in Ethiopia posted by Joint Council's Be the Answer campaign website:


"Last week the Ethiopian Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs announced their intention to reduce intercountry adoptions by 90% beginning March 10, 2011. The Ministry’s plan for a dramatic reduction is apparently based on two primary issues; 1) the assumption that corruption in intercountry adoption is systemic and rampant and 2) the Ministry’s resources should be focused on the children for whom intercountry adoption is not an option. Without further announcements by the Government of Ethiopia, it is our understanding that the Ministry’s plan will be initiated this week.

The Ministry’s plan is a tragic, unnecessary and disproportionate reaction to concerns of isolated abuses in the adoption process and fails to reflect the overwhelmingly positive, ethical and legal services provided to children and families through intercountry adoption. Rather than eliminate the right of Ethiopian children to a permanent family, we encourage the Ministry to accept the partnerships offered by governments, NGOs, and foundations. Such partnerships could increase the Ministry’s capacity to regulate service providers and further ensure ethical adoptions.

The Ministry’s plan which calls for the processing of only five adoption cases per work day, will result not only in systemic and lasting damage to a large sector of social services, but will have an immediate impact on the lives and futures of children. Moving from over 4,000 adoptions per year to less than 500 will result in thousands of children languishing in under-regulated and poorly resourced institutions for years. For those children who are currently institutionalized and legally available for adoption, the Ministry’s plan will increase their time languishing in institutions for up to 7-years.

Joint Council respectfully urges the Ministry of Women, Children and Youth Affairs to reconsider their plan and to partner with governments, NGOs and foundations to achieve their goals and avoid the coming tragedy for children and families."

Be The Answer is a campaign of Joint Council on International Chiildren's Services

Altho' I may get in trouble for posting this, I just had to do it 'lil rocker!

It is 4:30 in the morning and although I did take a remedy for jet lag which helped with dizziness and disorientation I cannot sleep.

All is well here. Everyone survived without me.

Saturday is Booty's birthday and party and we are celebrating grandpa's birthday tonite. For Booty's party we are having a girl's tea with sandwiches, silk painting and games. I am looking forward to it and hope that my very sweet girl has fun.

Recently found out that for many years I was referred to as "Gov."
I guess that doesn't surprise me. My youngest sister has a similar moniker, "Generalissima".

Are we just a bunch of bossy ladies?

Dear Creator,
I miss my family and pray that you will see my way clear to them within the next 48 hours. I am very anxious about flying into and out of Japan. Please guide me and keep me safe so I can be with them soon.
My baby's face and the loving eyes of my husband are in my heart.
Here we go...

Mamacita is the spokeswoman for the C/T household and she is quite a charmer.



And you may not like slugs, but I do, especially Banana slugs. Here is a baby one I spotted on our walk through what we could refer to as "Preservation Park", a beautiful forest and ocean front conservation area, which Preserve Our Islands recently rescued in a decade long fight and victory over a Gravel mining corporation.




Skyping has been a very painful activity for me and Booty. It is very hard to hang up when you can see the people you miss so much right in front of you. Lots of tears.

It is hard to talk about what is happening in Japan because I could never express the realities that have and continue to unfold for people there. It is a "worst case" scenario for an earthquake/tsunami event except for the fact that the architecture was built with earthquakes in mind and this means less damage less lives lost.

I wonder if everyone brought rice with them on the flight into Japan, if there could be a way to get it to the people that can't get food.

I have had a very exciting week.
I arrived in Washington state on Saturday morning without too much difficulty, and even slept a few winks. My friend, A met me at the airport and rode with me back to her home on Vashon island. There, her 6 dogs and 2 cats greeted us enthusiastically and I was able to fill up on plenty of high quality dog love.

Communication issues abounded during my week and to keep these issues private lets just say I have learned when moving country to be aware of the different ways people are comfortable communicating. Contacting people by email AND phone is advisable. And give extra options for contacts if possible.

I loved staying on Whidbey Island. The setting is absolutely gorgeous. No traffic. No commuting faculty. No chain stores. Great food and coffee. Just brilliant. Mostly very low key people and everything moves slowly. The children there are lovely and welcomed me into their classrooms graciously. The walks I took with the Kinder children deep into the woods filled me with awe and joy. The weather was misty and I venture, not cold.

Bellevue, Washington is largely suburban with long not so appealing strips of congested areas like most wealthy towns in the US. The school is lovely, with a hidden, wooded area in the back perfect for young children. The school also abuts a botanic garden and large park. The people are gregarious and mostly fit my age group so seem to be more "like me". The children here surprised me with their lack of "rich kid" mentality. The older children and the younger were respectful and interested. The weather was crazy- raining hard, misting, sunny with a wave of warmth, a fat rainbow all in one day.

I have no sense of how things will unfold because there are situations at both schools which require patience on my part. Another lesson.

Last night there was a wind storm that knocked out the electricity on Vashon. The ferry ride over was very dramatic with sea spray covering my windshield in agressive bursts.
And I am now watching the news and trying to keep updated on the events in Japan,namely a tsunami, which may effect my travel plans returning home because my stop-over is Narita airport outside of Tokyo.



I plan to visit with my old school-mate this afternoon in Seattle and have lunch with my aunt tomorrow back here on Vashon.

"Just remember this, Mr. Potter, that this rabble you're talking about... they do most of the working and paying and living and dying in this community. Well, is it too much to have them work and pay and live and die in a couple of decent rooms and a bath? Anyway, my father didn't think so. People were human beings to him. But to you, a warped, frustrated old man, they're cattle. Well in my book, my father died a much richer man than you'll ever be!"

My response to the Governor of Wisconsin.

I would love to teach this song to an 8th grade class!

So far a list of topics I will be sharing:

Maybe platonic solids?
Geometric Drawing (Circle bisection)
Perspective drawing of stairs
Round singing
Fractions (Game)
Movement and drawing with young children
Letter drawing and writing
The Curious Lobster (telling just a small excerpt of a story my grandpa wrote in the 1930's)

Don't count on anything of use from me in the near future.
I will be busy preparing lessons, and trying to make sense of why I have decided to launch myself into the universe in hopes of finding a job and a home for our family in the States.

If the gate is unlocked I will open it.

On days like these, I really miss dogs!
Dear Bob-the-black-lab at the farm in Australia,

You were a good friend to us during our short visit. You did not pester us but always showed up at the perfect time to be pet, and to hang out on the porch. Occasionally, you entertained us by running after the tractor or by catching bubbles in your mouth. Essentially, you are the kind of dog I like; gentle, faithful and joyful.

We miss you Bob!

I AM TRULY SORRY
***

I henna-ed my hair today, inspired by another friend who also recently henna-ed. It came out exactly the color it was supposed to- mahogany. And so my hair has a shiny reddish brown tint to it.

It turns out it is sort of like my scarlet letter.

A very dear and kind friend of mine told me today how I have been harsh with her in the past and that it hurt her deeply. And if this is not bad enough, there are a few others I have hurt because of my harshness.

And I am going public with this very private information because I don't want to do this anymore. And I am glad that my red hair warns everyone who sees me- "Here comes that hothead. Look out!" And reminds myself when I look in the mirror- "Don't let your righteousness wrong others."

I don't want to be a hot head anymore. I want to be a warm person and to be truthful, yet kind and simple in my words.

Car Stories

Yesterday I got into a friend's car. This is unusual for me because we mostly take the train or a cab. So, we were driving in her Lexus hybrid and it started me reminiscing about my cars.

When we were both quite a bit younger, like most kids, we tended to be overly optimistic about how much gas we had in the tank. She ran out of gas only 6 blocks from her house which was a piece of luck. I ran out of gas on a 4 lane highway in my Cadillac Sedan de Ville. Try to turn THAT steering wheel when you have just lost your power steering! A bit of a miracle really but those driving along side of me did not even hesitate when getting out of my way.

One of the most incredible of car story tellers is Tom Waits, and for more about his cars try this link.

Before I got a license I used to drive another friend's VW rabbit. I drove very carefully so as not to upset the police. One time however, I was pulled over and the officer asked for my license. I lied and said, "I am sorry officer, I forgot my license at home and I am late for work!" He asked where I worked (which is what I was hoping) and when I responded "Leona's" he just walked away from the car without a word. You see, in those days and maybe even today, Chicago cops ate half price at Leona's and rarely busted an employee.

My first car (with M.C.) was a tan 1973 Mercedez. That car could take a turn on a dime and saved my reckless life several times. The floor in front of the back seat rusted out. I sold it to a Jesus-looking junkyard man with turquoise blue eyes for $50 and wept as he towed it away.

Getting ready for:

My visit to Seattle and two Waldorf Schools for interviews.
Handing over my administrator position at the Waldorf school here,
Our friends Michael and Lakshmi to arrive next week,
Our school's Open house (hence the crazy crafting I am doing above),
Booty's school vacation next week,
and forgot about

cooking for the school today-
woops.

"Dirty Colored Skin"
I am
too sensitive.
I know.
But when someone says that brown skin is "dirty", even if it is in reference to their own "high yellow" tone, it makes me burn.
OK. I will put out the fire.
But I would like to say something.
Or shouldn't I?

My students S and O will be finishing their first "Main Lesson" book in a few days. It is filled with the work we have done together; drawings, writings, diagrams, maps, geometric forms etc. It is always nice to have one's work documented beautifully. Don't you think it would be wonderful if we all did it?



A little more about Matheran...
When we arrived there were elderly ladies begging us to let them carry our baggage to the hotel. The same at the transfer station. It is hard to hand over your heavy bags to someone who appears to be the age of your mother. We took most of the bags in the cart that carried mom (Hemanshu's) but one woman persisted and we gave her a bag.

In this picture we are trying to catch the second train and ahead is a man carrying 4 of our bags. I feel very "soft" at these times.

My flights to Seattle are booked. I will be seeing some of my dearest friends very soon.

Ah. I will take a horse anytime over a monkey.
These monkeys especially will adjust your idea of "cute animals". Even Booty has decided that she doesn't much like them anymore. H is not easily corrupted by experience- he still thinks they are dear little creatures. Even after one tried to attack me.

We were sitting by the pool having an afternoon pot of chai. All of a sudden a monkey saunters toward us very deliberately. I knew right away he was after the sugar so I put a heavy saucer on the lid. This did not seem to deter him at all and he continued to aggressively approach our table. I threw a spoon in front of him to try and scare him away. But that did nothing. He grabbed the sugar bowl and faced me, hissing and ready for a showdown. I knew better and broke eye contact immediately and turned around. He then sat down 2 feet away and contentedly ate the entire contents of the sugar bowl. After this he came for our chai pot and I even hoped he would find a way to the scalding chai. He did not but we lost interest in the pot after he had handled it.

Throughout the trip we learned that the monkeys will not back down unless you have a weapon (a broom or even better a sling shot). We purchased two of the latter and survived the rest of our holiday without having to get a tetanus shot. This was not the fate of a friend of mine who attempted to grab back a stolen item from a monkey and was left with deep scratches on her arms.

Sometimes when the habitat of man and animal collide, it is not a pretty picture.

I love my India!

Getting used to the quiet and the order of Singapore can take time. Especially after a trip to Mumbai with lots of riksha rides.

We were so lucky to go to Matheran again, and Booty rode a pony (Mr. Mintu) for 2 days straight! I think we have a horsey girl here! And we finally got to experience the trains in India! We took the train from Mumbai to the bottom of the hill station and rode the toy train up to the top. The refreshment seller (above) was jumping on and off the train without hesitation. The food on Indian trains is cooked fresh to order, (unlike the packaged garbage served in the US) and is hot and delicious (albeit spicy). And it prompts me to beg the question,

"What is the meaning of the word civilized?"