#9 Wonder

#9 {and #2 of Spring Break} is Wonder by R.J. Palacio ~ shared with me by a colleague who's note said "You'll love it!  :) Denise" and I did.  What a GREAT book to read, especially after struggling through The Goldfinch.  A DELIGHTFUL story about August and his first year at school as a fifth grader.  Auggie has facial defomaties {even though we hate that word}.  What happens to him is heartbreakingly sad, heartbreakingly tender, and heartbreakingly wonderful.  One Flaw, and I KNEW this would happen from page one SPOILER ALERT.  The damn dog dies.  {NO MORE DEAD DOGS, right Gordon Korman?}
But other than that...this is a must read.

The English teacher had monthy precepts that he posted on his board.  Only a few of them made the book, but they were all listed in the appendix.  First off, I love this concept of teaching precepts to students...helping them figure out their own 'rules of life'.  Here are some of my favorites:
p311 ~
September
When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind. ~ Dr. WAyne W. Dyer

October
Your deeds are your monuments. ~ inscription on an Egyptian tomb

April
What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful. ~ Sappho

May
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as you ever can.
~ John WEsley's Rule

August's Precept
Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their life because we all overcometh the world. ~ Auggie

fl: I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year-old kid.  ll: She bent down and whispered in my ear.  "You really are a wonder, Auggie.  You are a wonder."

#8 The Goldfinch

Can you call it a good book when your thought upon finishing is, "Thank God that's over."?  I didn't hate the story.  It just went on and on and on.  775 pages of on.  Had to 'stand in line' twice to check it out twice {on my Kindle} to get it read.
A fellow teacher said it was the best book she'd read since The Help.  Yeah, no.  Not in my opinion.  #8 The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is a sad depressing tale of life gone bad.  It made me think about my beliefs ~ and my choices ~ and I was reminded of my more Pollyanna outlook...not as Gloom&Doom like this author.
It's the story of a stolen painting & the lives it intertwined.  Theo's life is destroyed & this painting holds him and keeps him...and almost destroys him again.  It just goes on and on.

Quotes:
p132 ~ pyjamas {love the spelling}

p755 ~ The interesting thing, in the photograph, was how the fragile little knock-kneed boy--smiling sweetly, pristine in his sailor suit--was also the old man who'd clasped my hand while he was dying: two separate frames, superimposed upon each other, of the same soul.

Which is really a great theme of the book ~ What is real?  What makes us us?  What is the purpose of life?  A thinking story...I just was so happy when it was over.

fl: While I was still in Amsterdam, I dreamed about my mother for the first time in years.  ll: And I add my own lover to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing out brilliantly from the wreck of time to the next generation of lovers, and the next.

today in my garden

70° yesterday and 50° today have given me two days of leaf removal in my flower beds.  Sore shoulders & a popped blister later...and my gardens are getting ready.
I love this time of year.  The long winter is finally giving up to spring & the proof is in the little buds that miraculously fight their way through the layers of wet, frozen leaves to show us there is hope.  I do believe that life is like that too.  There are always signs of hope fighting through the layers of crap that press down on us.
Here's today in my garden, photo journal style:

A little birdy used left over ribbon from Patrick's graduation party to build a fancy nest.  Rather joyous find.

 Crocuses ~ crocuses ~crocuses.  The first flower.  A bright living spot in the middle of a dead flower bed.  How does this little flower grow in the still cold dirt?  Does it know the joy it brings the people who see it?
There are bigger flowers and their are showier flowers, but there is none that deliver the good news of spring quite like these little guys.

This may just look like a bunch of half dead leaves...but shortly these little leaves will grow long stems with big green buds that will pop open one morning to reveal the most glorious red poppy. 

Still asleep ~ still quiet ~ in need of warmth and sun ~ and then the miracle will happen.

The weeping cherry tree and My Magnolia. 

How do those buds still form?

How were they kept from destruction during our frigid winter?

I love this little planter with the crazy hair plant.

He spent the winter burried in the snow.

Fonzi, surveying his yard & hoping for a chipmunk or squirrel to chase.

We are all thankful for the warmth.

memory lane...

Mike stumbled upon a photo album that his mom moved into the Madison house...and he found a picture he never knew existed.  Brought a grown man to tears ~ remembering that moment right after winning the 1986 state wrestling title.  The picture says it all.

Run Log: March 2014

Today is warm. (50)  Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer. (60).  I NEED this!  I waited until after lunch to run today ~ just so I could NOT BE COLD!  I still ran in capris and a long sleeve light shirt ~ the wind was still blowing ~ but I was not cold.  It felt marvelous.
This month:  Run Club met a few times (2 that I can recall) {run club is me & Cheryl}  Dodd & I ran early morning in DC {that was cold}  I signed up for a 1/2 marathon and the Red Bird Run.  & The 10 Mile Drop before I complete another run log.  I'm ready for racing & running in warmth.

March’s Totals:

97.32 miles for the month {only 13.42 miles from doubling my Jan-Feb effort}
208.06 miles for the year 

287.35 miles for my bright blue Brooks ~ getting on in mileage, but still cushy ~ dirty, but cushy

1 mile swimming

60 miles biking

Still taking the Kickboxing class on Monday & Yoga Wednesday & Sunday.  Need to start more swimming.

Training for: 10 Mile Drop on April 13 & Lake Health Half Marathon {Hill, Yeah} on June 15

My WEIGHT:  OOPS ~ lots of Girl Scout Cookies & those evil Marshmallow Treat Oreos have me back at 136.4 pounds...Pants still fit well, so that's not much motivation to quit eating the cookies. AND I've got two more boxes of GS cookies...and graham crackers spread with Hazelnut Spread & Marshmallow Fluff...that's so very good.

Some interesting facts:

Longest run this month: 10.04...ready for that 10 Mile Drop
Favorite place to run this month: MMS down Dayton to 84 to 528 to Middle Ridge to MMS...Run Club 5 miler
# of books I read this month: one...and a half.  Had the one I started last month taken away on page 528...really a 700+ page book...I can't read that in 3 weeks during the school year.
Monthly mileage record: 155.46 ~ August 2013!  WOW
Highest mileage ever-at-one-time:  26.2 ~ October 13, 2013 ~ Northern Ohio Marathon
Toenail color:  Fresh French Manicure ~ just bought more white & pink at the Wal-Mart

PR's:
5K: 22:45 (Rabbit Run 10/30/11~ but I think it was a short course)
10K: 52:02 (Cleveland 5/15/11)
10-miler: 1:21:29 (Hermes Cleveland 10-miler 4/28/12)
half-marathon: 1:47:35 (Cleveland Half 5/19/2013)
marathon: 4:01:04 (Northern Ohio Marathon 10/13/2013)

#7 This is Where I Leave You

One of the books in my "it's going to be a movie, you better read the book" pile.  #7 is Jonathan Tropper's This is Where I Leave You.  It is a sorry tale about dysfunctional people from a dysfunctional family attempting to live together while they sit Shiva for their dead father.  The characters are likable even with their all-too-human flaws.  The unfaithful wives, the druggie brother, the angry older brother, the overbearing mother...and then SPOILER ALERT there's the ending that is NOT an ending.  I hate it when books don't wrap it up.  I was told that this is the first of a yet-to-be-written sequel...so that makes it a little better ~ but the ending was dissapointing.

Quotes & Words

p82 ~ cataclysmically

    relating to or denoting a violent nateral event

p182 ~ there's always a last time.  If you could remember every last time, you'd never stop grieving.

p 265 ~ nomenclature

   the devising or choosing of names for things

p286 ~ That's the thing about life; everythign feels so permanent, but you can disappear in an instant.

p328 ~ Life is huge, but it can turn on a dime.

fl: "Dad is dead," Wendy says offhandedly, like it's happened before, like it happens everyday.  ll: Tomorrow is anybody's guess.  I've got a baby girl on the way, a borrowed Porsche, and fourteen grand in a shopping bag.  Anything can happen.

Catching up

Jen & I show off our Ohio Glasses

Well, I haven't blogged in a while...not because stuff hasn't been happening...but I've been pretty lazy with my "free time"
Back in the beginning of March, I accompanied the 7th graders to Columbus ~ for the abbreviated version of the former Ohio Tour.  We left early in the morning & saw some sites in C'bus.  We were so very lucky that it was in the 50's for the day...great weather considering the winter we've had!

<===I'm rather into the selfies ~ as I'm tired of never being in the pictures ~ and I AM that far behind the times.  Lori & I rode the best bus (as always).  Erin and I had a blast on the roller coaster machine!  And I drank a cup of sugar ~ it tasted amazing.

The Ghost was active in the house during the month of March ~ {come to think of it, however, Fonzi has stopped nipping at the air in the family room...} BUT: one night Mike & I were watching TV when we hear an abrupt crash of something from the front room.  We just look at each other...and I make Mike go check it out {certainly checking out strange noises is a blue job}  SOMEHOW the music stand, which is NOT in the least bit loose, had lost its tilt & all the music folders crashed to the floor.  Strange happening, for sure ~ ghostly activity? maybe.

JB over Al's left shoulder

Patrick came home from Cincy on spring break & JB went to NYC with the band on that Wednesday.  He had a great trip, with very little sleep.  But what do you expect from a TV celebrity?

The band made the Today Show ~ with a big blue banner in the window & lots of face time both in the window & during an outdoor segment.  It was great to see my boy on my TV from the Big Apple.
We picked him up Sunday morning & he crashed on the couch...didn't even wake when Fonzi licked his face.

The Monday before the DC trip, we went to the dealership to look at new cars & found this adorably red Chevy Equinox ~ 2013 with 2800 miles on it.  Couldn't pass it up ~ so I bought it.  My lovable 2003 Yukon has 215,000 miles on it ~ and it's hard to give it up ~ but I'm glad I did.  Mike did all the leg work while I was in DC ~ so all I had to do was go sign papers & drive it home on Saturday.  He's the best ever ~ because I know it was a pain and a lot of leg work to get the loan.  Thanks, honey.

 My selfie tour of our nation's capitol.  The White House.  The Capitol Building. The bus.  The Lincoln Memorial.  The Jefferson Memorial.  FRD Memorial.  MLK Memorial {we don't konw what Julie is doing}
This trip is always filled.  Filled with fun, tired, anxiety, annoyance, laughter, yelling, lost kids, found kids, sleepy kids, happy kids, grumpy adults, slap-happy adults, history, rememberance, memories...and a reminder that I really enjoy what I do for a living.  I will not be able to hear Frozen's famous song, "Let It Go" without thinking of this trip.

My most favorite selfie: Me, Dodd & JFK

And that brings us to a week of Spring Break.  Here's the view of our backyard this morning:

I AM TIRED OF WINTER