In faith formation class this week, we made evergreen sprays with clothespin ornaments for decorations.

We also presented our giving tree to the Mohawk Hudson Humane Society.

AHA American Hero Therapy Dog Hudson the Railroad Puppy came to visit our faith formation class on Wednesday!

We're doing a giving tree for Mohawk Hudson Humane Society.

I turned 54 last Friday. It was one of those years where the number struck me. I'm not that hung up on age, have never been overly traumatized by milestones. But every so often a number doesn't seem like "mine" and it's never the ones ending in zero or five. Last time I remember feeling this way was 46.

This lovely wooden tub full of mums was delivered:

And here's what the card said:

LOL. Bob had a cold and the florist must have thought that's what he said (I don't call my father "Pop.")

It has been a good year for tomatoes, plants still going strong:

Also got two wonderful bottles of handmade Chardonnay:

In other news, faith formation starts tomorrow. Seventh grade this year!

I'm trying to wrap my mind around what religion says it's OK to marry four times, have kids while unmarried, break the law and judge others, but doing your job and issuing marriage licenses to Gay couples means you will burn in hell? Years ago, when I was an administrator, I was assigned to a project that involved keeping records for system-wide animal research. I oppose animal research, and went to my boss and asked to be removed from the project. He did, without question or a hassle. If he had not, I would have resigned. Simple as that. What is wrong with this mean-spirited, publicity monger drama queen? Grow up Kim Davis. If you can't work out a compromise that satisfies your twisted conscience, you should quit and stop taking taxpayer money.

Second rant, Walter Palmer, the murderer of Cecil the lion, is scum. He asserts that he did nothing wrong? And that his family has suffered? They do not know the meaning of suffering. How scary is it that amoral people like him walk among us?

Three things:

1) Have long, scraggly beards become in? Bob googled and discovered that "Duck Dynasty" made beards popular again. That can't be it, can it? These men I'm seeing seem to be copying Amish beards..
2) The Troy Record had a photo essay about the Price Chopper grand opening -- where St. Patrick's church in Watervliet was torn down. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Do I have to boycott the Record too? (PC is already dead to me.)
3) It's that time of year again, Saratoga racing season. When people act as if cruelty is cool and gambling is high class. Spare me.

Thank you gift from a boy in faith formation

Thursday night after I got home from campus, I came down with the worst stomach bug I've had in years. Ugh! The details are TMI, but let's say you can just rip yesterday's calendar page out. At this point, I am up to ginger ale and toast (one piece). Since I don't eat bread or drink soda, this took some doing!

The case of the missing chair: recently I moved into a new (much nicer) office. The prior occupant left behind a wooden side chair with tattered upholstery. The chairs in her new office are in better shape, and she said I could have it, or if I felt it was too forlorn, I should throw it away.

I liked the chair, despite the worn fabric, and decided I would keep it. When Bob visited to see my new space, he immediately said "that's a Gunlock chair." So I bought fabric, and hauled his cordless screwdriver to campus on Tuesday to begin the reupholster job.

I took off the back, but discovered the seat required a regular screwdriver, which wasn't in the case. I decided the fabric needed ironing anyway, so I'd have to finish on Thursday. Thursday morning I arrived with another screwdriver and an iron...and my chair was gone!

After looking around the department (lots of moves, painting, etc. taking place at present), I contacted the office that has responsibility for such tasks, and was referred to email elsewhere, which I did. No response. Suddenly our department coordinator had a bright idea...she found my chair in the tunnel (four stories below).

Now, I have some ideas...but who took my chair and why?

Studying social class in Toleration class. I assigned groups of students a class, and had them make posters.

Second to last faith formation class. The kids have spring fever -- lots of energy to say the least! Tonight, we studied the art print "Good Friday" by Maggi Hambling (1989) and started the culminating project: banners that will be displayed in the chirch for Easter. These are the samples we made. The kids have the same burlap panel, bamboo dowel / rope hanger, and burlap cross. Aside from those elements, they will have free choice of design and decorations: felt, foam mosaic squares, fabric markers, artificial flower petals, dried flower potpourri, and pictures of flowers from old calendars. Tonight we looked at many design ideas and worked on sketches, and then they cut out shapes and letters. Next week will involve about a case of Elmer's glue as they put it all together.

 Teddy cat went to a veterinary opthamologist this morning. He's had clousy eyes ever since we adopted him, but after his third eye ulcer episode a couple weeks ago, our vet Dr. Tina referred us to a specialist. It turns out he has corneal dystrophy, a condition that is fairly common in dogs (especially boston terriers, chihuahuas and doxies) but rare in cats. There is no cure for it, but hopefully the eye drops he'll be on for the rest of his life will prevent the ulcers from developing, or at least reduce the frequency.

His right eye was bad before he saw our regular vet 3 weeks ago. It cleared up with the ointment she gave us (as it always does) so he seemed 100% this morning (excapt for the usual cloudiness). But the specialist was able to see a small ulcer in his left eye, although he was showing no obvious symptons -- surprising, as I know they are very painful. It's degenerative (and probably hereditary), so his vision is likely to gradually decline (he can see fine now). If he lives to be very old (he's nearly 9 now, we've had him since he was 5), he may go blind. She put a temporary contact lens in his eye to protect it!

Spring break is over and the countdown to end of semester begins. In faith formation on Monday, we celebrated spring even though it doesn't feel like it out there! The lesson focused on The Parable of the Sower. The art print was "The Flower Seller" by Diego Rivera, the saint handout was about St. Fiacre (Patron Saint of Gardeners), we studied the world map to locate France and Mexico, read the parable and the handout, and planted tulip bulbs and pansies in the flower pots. Snack was apples with caramel dip. Only two classes left in AY '13-'14, hard to believe. When we told them, the kids were disappointed that it will be over so soon. Last two weeks will be our culminating project, stay tuned!

Tomorrow's faith formation theme is St. Patrick. We're going to study the art print St. Patrick by  Jan Tillemans (1955, stained glass window at Basilica of Our Lady of the Cape Shrine in Quebec), read about St. Patrick and watch a couple video clips, find Ireland and Britain on the map, make rosary beads and learn (some of) the rosary, and have shamrock sugar cookies for snack.

Faith formation tonight will focus on St. Kateri. We're planning to look at the art print "Kateri Tekakwitha" by Robert Lentz, find Fonda on a NYS map, watch a slideshow of pictures Robert Schmidt took at the Auriesville Shrine the day of Kateri's canonization, read tha play "Lily of the Mohawks," make mosaic wood crosses, and have cornbread with maple syrup (made by my brother) for snack.

 Our samples

 St. Kateri

I can't believe it is this cold on the last day of February! There is no let up in sight, so March will be coming in like a lion. The cold is what's most memorable from this winter, but it looks like another snowstorm is on the horizon too. But Spring will surely come eventually!

Yesterday was Rosie's 2nd Gotcha Day.

Since I'm all about equal opportunity

Once again, I have had some pent-up things to post but just haven't gotten to it until today. In faith formation (where the kids have been awesome after the email about their behavior a couple weeks ago), I brought in the Bible I used when I was in catechism to show them. One boy looked at the battered little New Testament of the Jerusalem Bible and asked incredulously, "how old are you?" I laughed and said "I'm 52." "You're old!" he said. "Yes, I am old," I responded, "and believe me, you will get there someday. It seems like only yesterday I was your age." He won't understand this for many years, but maybe someday he will remember and it will resonate as the wisdom of elders often does.

I gave both my foundations classes a talking to about their use of electronics in the classroom, and that how apparent it is that they are not reading (the latter was mostly directed at the evening section). The evening section was perfect afterwards. In the day class I still had to call out a few students for nonstop texting, but on Thursday they shaped up.

We did an exercise called "the five most important events in American educational history" that I started using last semester, inspired by this website. The activity is similar to the new fad known as "flipping the classroom." Students individually do a scavenger hunt through this comprehensive online resource to find their five, then work in groups of 4-5 to come up with consensus lists that they write on the board and present to class. At the end I suggest events that might be missing. (Yesterday I added the Old Deluder Satan Act, the Morrill Act, the GI Bill.) Students are engaged by it and it works really well.

Suction cups for the suncatchers came

I. In faith formation last night, we focused on the Sign of the Cross. We read about its significance, studied the painting "Christ on the Cross" by Barthelemy d'Eyck (15th Century) and made these stained glass (actually plastic) suncatchers.
I was pleased to see this week and last (when we looked at "Four Corners of the World" by Pablo Picasso (1952-54) and read about St. Sebastian), they have learned something unexpected from being in class with us for 1.5 years. The minute they get a handout with graphics on it, even when the image is simply decoration and not part of the formal lesson, they immediately start analyzing the artwork with reactions about what they notice, how they feel, speculation about what the artist meant, and questions.

II. I've read a lot of Mark Twain's writing. I really mean a lot. Currently I am reading Volume 2 of his autobiography. It's such a treat when I stumble across an entry I haven't encountered before! But something is bothering me. Ever since I started to read a lot of his work, I've noticed that the "scholars," those folks who write the introductions and "make their bread"* from being experts, invariably assert that Susy was his favorite daughter. I always found this surprising. True, some people have favorites (although shouldn't) but most people do not, or if they did, they would certainly hide it.

 I had a hard time believing it could be true, but what did I know? At least that was my thinking. Now that I am into Volume 2, and encountering previously unpublished writings, I call BS. They have no clue what they are talking about. Unquestionably he was fond of his eldest daughter, why wouldn't he be? And of course she died as a young woman, which was a terrible blow. But I see not a shred of evidence to support the ridiculous claim of "favorite."

* thanks to Mr. Twain, he loved this phrase

Almost finished with grades! Tonight we are going to Advent Lessons and Carols at the Parish of St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph in Rensselaer. Four choirs from Southern Rensselaer County (including ours) will be participating. Can't wait!

I've had my nose to the grindstone, and as a result can predict I will be finished with Fall grades well before the deadline. I did take a break Wednesday (to go the A Christmas Carol at Cap Rep), Sunday (to go to church, do laundry, remove homepage hijacker from the laptop, shovel snow -- winter has come early -- had our second storm today. Below zero temps last night), and Monday (for faith formation). 

We made batik (using Elmer's glue) and tie dye Sacred Heart Church logo tee-shirts. We planned to use Koolaid for the dye, but the prototypes we made were a disaster. We had cotton shirts, and Koolaid washes right out of natural fabrics. So we used a non-toxic dye made for kids instead. As preparation, the kids studied the painting "The Sacred Heart" (1954, Roy de Maistre).

It took two classes, and the shirts came out unbelievably good! Chalk it up to divine intervention, lol. Half the kids were absent the night we did the dye part, and Bob wants to tie dye again in January so the kids who were absent last week can make a shirt too. 

We handed the finished shirts out last night, studied "Nativity" by Elena Khmeleva, drew the nativity scene, and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas." Now we're on break until January 6.

This shirt most closely matches my "vision" for this project

After discovering no plagiarism since Spring 2012 (and congratulating myself that the "academic integrity awareness quiz" I designed that summer after that dreadful hearing episode was working like a charm), yesterday I found a shocking, and disheartening case. Disappointing not so much due to the guilty party -- a fairly weak student -- but because the stolen essay was written by a favorite, outstanding student from the past who I never would have suspected of being ethically challenged.

But I forged ahead, and finished all the essays even though documenting and reporting cheating takes a lot of time I don't have, thank you very much.

I forgot: the batik and tie dye shirts for faith formation came out awesome! Must be divine inspiration. The kids will be so proud, we will put on the finishing touches on Monday (and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas. I'll post pictures soon.

As part of our focus on St. Francis of Assisi and animals, we are having a guest with a service dog visit class in two weeks. So last night we prepared, by reading the book "My Buddy, watching a couple short videos about service dogs, and making posters of "hero" dogs. This was our sample, crafted from photos of dogs we actually know:

Yesterday was my father's last day of radiation (for a slight re-growth of his brain tumor; this was not unexpected). Still, schlepping to Albany every weekday since September 23 takes a toll. We went to lunch at Sam's

when he had his first consultation at St. Peter's back in August. Sam's is closed Mondays, so yesterday we went to Lombardo's. You don't need three guesses to figure out what I had: Eggplant Parmesan. Both times. (Not that I have not had it many, many times in-between as well).

PS new shoes are AWESOME

We had a baptism at church on Sunday and I am still irritated. I wish our pastor would either announce at the beginning that non-Catholics shouldn't go to Communion, or better yet he would tell the parents to let their friends & relatives know what is appropriate behavior. This family was mostly from downstate & they were so rude. The kids who were with them got up constantly and had to be taken to the bathroom. That wasn't too bad, and I tried hard not to feel judgmental but it was not easy mostly due to the adults. One young woman sitting in front of us was quite zaftig and wearing a ridiculous revealing and unflattering dress. She & her boyfriend or husband and another couple spent the whole Mass talking, rolling their eyes, and snickering. They would not give us room to kneel, they did not shake our hands during the sign of peace, they exited loudly as a group before the final hymn, and before the priest & altar servers came down the aisle. They went to communion, cutting off the people in the pew ahead of them to get in line. I don't know if they were given a host because I'm sure they had no clue what to say to receive and when it was my turn, the priest was whispering something to the other eucharistic minister. They did not even clap when the baby was welcomed to the congregation! When we came outside they were standing there smoking. I know I should be happy that they came at all, but I wish they showed some respect. If they are going to act like a-holes, why did they bother to come? Just go directly to the party -- or be honest about your feelings and RSVP "no" entirely. I don't know how the priests tolerate it.

Speaking of tolerating, one lesson I took from the church nightmare is that I have to be sure to remind my toleration class about being respectful when they visit the sites for the Discomfort Zone assignment. I always do, and I think students take it to heart, but the baptism is reminding me. There has only been a problem once that I know of (when a guy took his girlfriend who wasn't in the class along with him to an Overeater's Anonomous meeting and he hadn't warned her to keep her mouth shut and just observe and she "outed" him). 

And...for something completely unrelated, this has not been a good year for my garden overall, but my pole beans are doing great!

The other extreme from my last post. RIP St. Patrick's.

Three comments about this story:

1) They lied -- I see steel
2) I also see the face
3) It's not coming down without a fight

Headed to S'ville for Mother's Day weekend.