Texas Trip

We had a lovely trip to San Antonio, to visit Grandma & Glenn, Steve & Lois, Christopher, Aimee, Noelle, Robert, Brynn, and Steven--as well as the five cats.  It's very interesting to be part of their lives, especially the musical treats, like the Dixieland Band rehersal (above) and Steven's music recital (below).  There there was Glenn's eye infection, the lost (and found) hearing aids, and getting the walker into and out of the car.  Grandma had a very good week and Glenn's health was restored.  The children are darling and the cats give Grandma something to watch and worry about.  We enjoyed seeing both Old San Antonio, including tea at the Mad Hatter's, and the New (very fancy) Shops at La Cantera.  We ate wonderful meals and bought lots of new clothes.  All in all, a great vacation.

The night before daylight savings time began, we were treated to a delightful meal at the home of my friend Shih-fen, so we (Scott, me, and other international students) could meet her friend Ruth, now of North Carolina, but heading to Chico, California in the fall.  What a wonderful meal and such delightful company!  Pity that we had to get out of bed at 2am to drive to Jacksonville to take the plane to San Antonio.

Lions and Lambs

March came in like a lion, with tornados, thunder, lightning, and three inches of rain in one day.  We are headed off to Texas for our Spring break and Scott is still worried about whether or not to cover the plants.  This hardy Hibiscus should be OK, but there's the poor little bougainvillea that bravely put out new leaves.  It will not be happy with an overnight temperature of 31.  It'll be good to put statistics out of my mind for six days.

The first picture was supposed to be the lower one.  It refers to my new project--a weekly observation at Duval and 5 teacher interviews.  At least I don't have to transcribe the interviews.  Thomasenia is part of a team studying how fifth grade African-American girls position themselves as learners of math and science.  We will be following them throughout their middle school years.  The classes I watched Thursday were so exciting--science experiments with the girls enthusiastic and ready to modify their vocabulary to use the language of science.  Would that every American school child had a teacher that believed they could learn anything and taught them that way.

Hope the Spring transition is good to all of you.  Love, Joanne

Sunday again

Looks like this will be a weekly post, for now. This has been a wretched computer week, two days off line and two hours with the Apple people to show me how to integrate my old information (one user) with my new computer (other user). I feel as though I am personally two people (maybe that's apt, after all), with my severed OS. It is forcing me to arrange my photos. Good thing Spring break is coming.

Charmi and JJ were here for a lovely 24 hours, and I add pictures of our favorite spot for new visitors. This is Paynes Prairie, home of migrating birds, buffalo, horses, and alligators.  I think Charmi said that there was a way for you to join my Flickr photos, but for now I'll try to add the pictures, like Charmi taught me last week. This week was their first (fourth) wedding anniversary, and Scott and I savored the memories of friends and family here with us in Gainesville. Love, Joanne