Dr. Maya Angelou receives Presidential Medal of Freedom

K is Maya Angelou on a school production celebrating Black History Month. Her teacher sent home a whole page of lines to memorize... It opens with:

"Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise, I rise, I rise."

and closes with the words President Obama quoted as he presented Dr. Angelou with the Presidential Medal of Freedom a few days ago:

"History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."

Dr. Maya Angelou - poet, author, educator, dancer, producer, actress, historian, film maker, civil rights activist.

Photo: Associated Press

It's Sunday

Today we went out in T-shirts. Yes, after the city shut down on Friday due to freezing weather and ice, today, Sunday, 2 days later, it is 70 degrees F. It's a sunny, warm, awesome day!

Super Bowl Sunday - game is on in a few hours...

It didn't snow

The 2 feet of snow that was in the forecast for Houston did not materialize. We did have lots of ice everywhere, though. The low temps hung around all day. Icicles that formed with the freezing rain are still around the roof and the backyard umbrella.

No work today! Played at home with the kids all day.

Houston freeways were closed with iced overpasses. Some motorists were stranded half way over sky bridges when they found ice and could not find traction to go forward or turn back...

In School for 100 Days

The 100th day of school was a big deal. A whole day of activities around the 100 number. It's fun to get a glimpse into Kaila's world - kids were asked to complete the blank spaces after the dots "..."

I can write 100 words.
I can write my numbers to 100.
I can count by 5's to 100.
I can count by 10's to 100.
If I had $100 I would... save money!
If I had 100 pencils, I would... use one every day.
If I had 100 mosquito bites, I would... put cream.
If I had 100 friends, I would... play with friends.
If I had 100 legs, I would... walk with them.
If I had 100 eyes, I would... look all around.
If I had 100... teachers, I would... listen very carefully.
If I had 100... mouths, I would... eat everything at the same time.
If I had 100... computers, I would... use one everyday.
If I had 100... books, I would... read one everyday.

When I'm 100 years old... I will travel.
I feel 100 feet tall when... I'm happy.
If I have told you once, I have told you 100 times... I love you.

It is cold today!

The cold is down here in Houston, too! Brrrr....

100 Days of School

A challenge from Kaila's teacher...write 100 things you learned in the first 100 days of school! I'm helping Kaila with her project this weekend. She is looking back at the material from the past few months and wow, I can see so much change from when she started the school year. The handwriting, the spelling, the concepts taught - quite amazing how quickly kids can learn.

Remembering Challenger, 25 years

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the Challenger disaster. Like so many, I watched it happen, live, on TV. I was on vacation in the beach house in Brazil, the TV happened to be on. I walked by and stopped to watch, captivated by the moment, the anticipation of the launch. Again like so many people, at first instant I was confused. This does not look right...what's going on?...is part of the shuttle just separating from the main capsule?...where is the shuttle?...what happened?... silence... chaos... more silence... then confirmation came over the air. Yes, we lost Challenger.

No matter where in the world you where, it was a deeply sad moment...

Today we remember Francis Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Ronald McNair, Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe.



Photo: NASA
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1850.html
"Maiden Voyage - Astronauts Story Musgrave, left, and Don Peterson float in the cargo bay of the Earth-orbiting space shuttle Challenger during their April 7, 1983, spacewalk on the STS-6 mission. [...] Challenger's service to America's space program ended in tragedy on Jan. 28, 1986. Just 73 seconds into mission STS-51L, a booster failure caused an explosion that resulted in the loss of seven astronauts, as well as the vehicle."

Fluttering

I love Kaila's drawing and color choices - working with soft pastels.

Anecdote

Anecdote - using stories to make a point at home and at work. The blog www.anecdote.com.au has very nice business discussions about how stories can influence the workplace. It has several good discussions and ideas on employee engagement.

On their January 6 post they discuss the "Otis Redding Problem" and quote Otis Redding's song Sitting By the Dock of the Bay; “Can’t do what ten people tell me to do, so I guess I’ll remain the same.”

Anectode also refers to Bob Sutton's post on the Otis Redding Problem in the workplace.

The Freedom Writers Diary

An inspiring and eye-opening story about how a young high school teacher and her "at-risk" students used the power of writing to challenge themselves and change their lives into a success story. The book is a series of diary entries from the students anchored by entries from Erin Gruwell, their teacher.

"The Freedom Writers Diary" by the Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell.

On my "to-read" list is the book that followed as teachers began using Erin's methodology.

"Teaching Hope: Stories from the Freedom Writer Teachers and Erin Gruwell" by the Freedom Writer Teachers with Erin Gruwell

I just realized Paramount has made a movie based on the book, starring Hillary Swank (2007). It's now on my "to-watch" list.

Back to school, back to work

It was back to school and back to work today... we just wished we could've had many more days of vacation. The kids and I were not really quite ready for it to end.

Happy New Year!

Starbucks' brown bag.

Angel

Oh what fun it is to play... we are closing 2010 with lots of laughter and happiness!

Festival of Christmas Lights

We drove through glitzy River Oaks tonight to see the lights. Beautiful decorations with Santa and reindeer and snowflakes and toy soldiers and colors were all over. In the middle of it all a blue shark on a gate, huh? All in all, several houses could easily make the "Extreme Holiday Lights" list!

It was a fun Sunday evening stroll/drive.

Pigeon Point

Pigeon Point Light Station State Historic Park sits on a cliff along the California coast between San Francisco (50mi S) and Santa Cruz (27mi N). The 115-foot Pigeon Point Lighthouse is one of the tallest lighthouses in America and has been guiding mariners since 1872. Its five-wick lard oil lamp and first-order Fresnel lens, comprised of 1,008 prisms, was first lit at sunset on November 15, 1872. The lens stands 16 feet tall, 6 feet in diameter, and weighs 8,000 pounds. Although the original Fresnel lens is no longer in use, the lighthouse is still an active U.S. Coast Guard aid to navigation using a 24 inch Aero Beacon.



UnklStuart in Flickr shared some incredible shots of the original fresnel lens. In his shot above you see the current working light outside the window and the fresnel lens. Stuart was part of a team that cleaned the lens prior to it's annual lighting in November. While no longer in service, the fresnel lens is lit once a year on the anniversary of the first lighting in 1872!

The restored lighthouse keeper's housing operates as a Hostel. We've been a guest at Pigeon Point several times and it's always a wonderful experience to wake up to the sounds of the ocean. I took the photo at the top on our last visit a couple of years ago.

A "Big" Christmas Tree

I decided this year that I'd get a small 5.5-foot Christmas tree so the kids could trim it and reach all the way to the top. They were super excited when it came home a couple couple of weeks ago. We set off to decorate it together with small ornaments, ornaments they had made, we added lights, a few red globes and we were mostly done. Over the course of two weeks we've added a few more pieces as they've made additional ornaments at school and at home.

Yesterday, I was talking to Daniel's teacher and told her that I had chosen a small tree this year. Well, she told me that Daniel said that he had a BIG Christmas tree at his house. I guess it's all a matter of perspective and relative size!

Daniel is responsible for supplying the tree with water every morning. Our tree drinks about a cup of water a day.

Scratch-off flakes

Kaila's holiday party at school was a blast today. Pizza, chicken nuggets, chips, veggies, fruits, a bite for everyone. The kids made a frame for their class picture and decorated scratch-off snowflakes! To finish it off they had a book exchange - it was truly fun day at school.

I was happy to visit and spend time with the class today.

Snowflake Bentley

Dentrite Star


Star Crystal


How is it possible that I don't recall ever hearing about Wilson Bentley?! The most incredible snowflake photographer, born in 1865.

This winter, I'll be sure to check out some snowflakes upclose.

For the kid in everyone - Snowflake Bentley is a wonderful biography written by Jacqueline Briggs Martin and illustrated by Mary Azarian. The book is sure to captivate the imagination and curiosity of kids and adults alike!

Bentley's photographs are available in the public domain. I love the collection at the Smithsonian: "There are seven basic shapes of snowflakes: the Star Crystal, the Dendrite Star, Columns, Plates, Capped Columns, Needles, and Irregular Forms."

Photos by Wilson Bentley from the Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 31, Box 12, Folder 17, Negative no. 976 & Negative no. 332.

For a modern microphotography spin it's worth checking out Kenneth Liebbreth's book Snowflakes.

The windows in our computer/guest room have been decorated with snowflakes all year round, courtesy of Kaila. Kaila and I love to make the paper cutouts. It was specially fun and 'refreshing' to have them up through the 100-degree Summer days.

Urban Coyote

I was finishing up a run at dusk a few days ago when a coyote darted across the street right in front of me. The animal was running so fast it didn't even acknowledge I was coming. It continued on it's merry way without a blink which I was very thankful for...

Happiness

There is nothing like hearing your kids laugh spontaneously and worry-free. We had a great weekend!