Everton

     The town was near the ocean. There was a fountain in the middle of the concrete square that was surrounded by office buildings. Around the fountain were vendors hawking their wares from folding tables. Some of the vendors had umbrellas to shield them from the sun. People milled around the tables, ate from food carts or sat upon the many benches spaced around the center. I noticed a photographer coming toward me. I watched as he took a picture of a young woman. He talked to the woman for a minute and then as he was taking the photo, she vanished.
     The photographer then came up to me and said he needed my help. He wanted me to take pictures of people to save them from the disaster about to strike out planet. I had been chosen and we didn't have much time. He explained that I must take the photograph, while speaking each person's name and telling them that they were going to Everton. He stressed again how urgent this project was and said I would know who to photograph. I grabed my camera and began to take pictures. Each time I would ask the person's name, push down the button on my camera and hold it down as I spoke to him or her, and then watch them disintegrate into nothingness. No one seemed to notice what I was doing in the crowded square. I wondered where Everton was. I wondered if the people I photographed were safely transported. A sense of urgency began to overhwhelm me. I wondered why I could not take pictures of two or more people together thinking it would be much quicker. I saw a family sitting on a bench. I went to the youngest girl and asked her her name. "Gloria," she said. I told her, "Gloria, I am sending you to Everton." I walked around the square choosing others and repeating the process with each one. I searched out my own family and sent them all to Everton. I left the square and walked to the shore. I wanted to find more people to photograph. I was on the sand now and I saw the swells begin. "A tidal wave is about to begin" I thought to myself. How could I get to safety? In answer, I watched a dolphin swim towards me. It scooped me onto its back and we rode the crest of the tidal wave until the dolphin deposited me onto a concrete riser with a tall steel rod sticking out of its middle. I stood on the small circle of concrete, holding on for my life as the water swept past me with great force and rushed all the way to the mountains. I stood there clinging to that pole for long hours waiting for the water to recede. The water finally settled into a large lake covering the basin between beach and mountain. When the water started to sink into the ground, I went back to the town center. I wanted to find out if there was anyone left who I needed to photograph and if anyone else had been left behind. And, I wanted someone to photograph me.
     It was strange how the town square looked unaffected by the tidal wave. It was dry and sunny. The tables and the vendors were in exactly the same places, only now the vendors seemed somehow different. Every vendor seemed distant and cold. A man called out to me from behind his table, "You have beautiful hair!" I thought about my shiny straight auburn hair as I looked his way but soon realized that he only wanted me to buy the hair care products he had for sale, so I just said, "Thank-you," quite tersely and walked on. I thought that everyone was out here just to make money and they would say anything to trick others into buying their products. The atmosphere was so different now - it seemed heavier or something. I wanted to get out of there! I wanted to get to my family. I started asking people to take my picture but now I couldn't remember the name of the town I sent everyone to. The first woman I went up to seemed nice. She was browsing at a table. She was pretty in her flowered headscarf and dark sunglasses. I hoped she would remember the name of the town. I hoped she wanted to go with me where the others had gone. She told me that she had wanted to go but it was too late now. "Besides," she said, "the camera won't work now because it has gotten wet." I looked at the camera. It was clear now, not black. It did look like it had water in it. But when I walked up to a man, the camera was black again. Relieved,  I told him I needed to get my picture taken, that my family had gone to another town and I wanted to go be with them, but I couldn't remember the name of the town. I asked him if he remembered the town and asked if he wanted to go too. He said that the name of the town didn't matter. I could choose any name I wanted when I got my picture taken and it would whisk me out of here. I didn't believe him. I wanted to go to the same place as everyone else, not to someplace by myself. The people here knew about the camera's ability to transport me, but everyone had a different reason as to why they could not take my picture or have theirs taken by me. Finally, one woman told me that if she took my picture when she wasn't supposed to, she would be destroyed. I was getting frantic and decided that the only way I could escape this planet was to take my own photograph. I didn't know if it would work or not. If I just could remember the name of the town. And then, it came to me. I remembered that when I first was asked to take photos of other people, I was unsure if my teacher was saying Eberton or Everton. I figured out he was saying Everton, like we would be safe for ever. I held my camera at arm's length, said "Diana, I am sending you to Everton," and snapped the picture.

Ear Trouble

Exhaustion. Frustration. Pain.
My life today.

I came home from my day long trip to the County Hospital and took a nap. When I woke up, all I wanted to do was sit and watch television. I picked up the remote and flipped around my basic stations. The first 15 channels were on commercial and 13 out of those 15 were for cars. That reminded me of my terrible day at the county hospital because when I arrived in Colton, there were no parking spots available. I was among a dozen or more cars that were circling the lots hoping to find someone leaving or a place far enough away that hadn't been reached yet. In other words, there were too many dang cars there and the last thing I wanted to see was the media telling me that we needed more cars on the road that needed places to park. Aargh.

My experience in the hospital was just as frustrating. Once I walked the distance to get to my 10:45 appointment, I had to wait in line to check in, then I had to wait outside the ENT door to ask a question. Once I learned that even though I was late because of the parking situation, there were still 7 patients ahead of me (they always triple book in the ENT area). I was glad though, because I wanted to use my waiting time, which is typically 2 hours past the appointment time, to go downstairs and get my pain medication refilled. The pharmacy was as crowded as the parking lot. I waited in line to check in, chatted with the people next to me when I did find a seat, and then got called up to the second window about 20 minutes later to get the label for my prescription. I was told the next waiting session was going to be another hour and a half. After about an hour, I waited in the prescription line hoping that when I got to the window, my Rx would be ready, but even though I only would have had to only wait 20 minutes more, it was already almost 1:00 and I wanted to get back upstairs for my scheduled appointment since the 2 hour wait time was already up.

Upstairs again, there were still 3 people ahead of me, but the nurse said to stick around since they were just follow ups. So I had a snack and took some ibuprofen (since I hadn't picked up the pain pills) because my head hurt just behind my right ear. I got called in through the clinic door and waited some more. I was there to hear about the reading of my CT scan 2 weeks ago. My original follow up was in October, but I was a squeaky wheel and they moved my appointment up. I didn't get to see the handsome doctor. Instead, I saw a resident. Although he was pretty cute and nice too, he didn't tell me what I expected to hear. I expected to hear that the choleastoma had grown back and they would remove it and I could hear better and have no more pain. Instead, he told me that the CT showed that everything was normal. What? If all is well, then why have I had pain and trouble since last November? The resident ventured a guess that it may be caused by dental problems. I said, if it's my teeth, then why do I have discharge from my ear? Then he suggested it could be my nerves and maybe I should see a neurologist. Iasked him if he was going to refer me to a neurologist. He said, "No, your primary care physician has to do that. But, I will make a note on your chart recommending it." So I left disheartened and confused. What am I to do now?

I kept thinking of how long it took the medical profession to find my ear problem 12 years ago. I heard almost the same thing last time. Doctors were diagnosing punctured ear drum, infection, or saying nothing was wrong. I even had one Blue Cross doctor tell me I wasn't having pain. That really irritated me. How could he know that? So, I am not giving up on this. I decided I should have a copy of that CT scan to compare to the CD I have from one follow up visit in Colorado. Getting a CD took another 45 minutes. First I got sent to the basement to Medical Records where they told me they can order printouts but not CDs. Medical Records sent me to Radiology upstairs. Radiology asked for my information and I was surprised to have the clerk say I had a face scan. I said, "No, it was supposed to be my ear." He explained that the maxillofacial scan x-rays the jaw area up to the ear. That really worried me because the last growth went straight up from right above my eardrum and was working its way up to my brain, destroying all the inner ear bones along the way. It makes me think that the CT scan was not complete enough. But maybe the neurologist will find something.  How long it will take that to happen is anyone's guess. It has taken me 10 months to get this far. I hope my issue will be resolved before another 10 months passes. My worst fear is that my head will explode and then the doctor wills say, "I guess something was wrong after all."

In the meantime, I look forward to becoming addicted to pain pills...NOT.

RQB 3

 

"Advice is what we ask for when we know the answer but wish we didn't."

Daughter's design.

   When I lived in New Mexico, I joined the Las Placitas Presbyterian Church. They were such a great group of people! I was involved in working for and then coordinating some Vacation Bible Schools there, then also singing alto in the church choir.
   I met my first friends through the church: Liese, Irene, and Sandra. It was Sandra who got me involved with Placitas Elementary where I did my student teaching and hooked up with Liese to initiate a Drama Club. I also very much enjoyed working with Sunflower my first year of VBS. I always use the name Dolphin when I work with kids informally and my "helper" chose the name Sunflower. It wasn't until later that I learned she was a PhD & so I changed her name to Dr. Sunflower.
   The choir at LPPC was a very fun group. Our director, Bob Boughton was so awesome. He taught us, wrote music and lyrics, and planned all the offerings. What a talented man! The laughs alone were worth the trip up the hill, but more important was the beauty of the music that was guided out of our small but mighty choir. I'm surprised Nancy did not include her quote, originally from St. Agustine, "When you sing, you pray twice," which she was fond of saying.
   Isn't it nice to have such fond memories brought up by 2 pages of quotes. Miss you all!

RQB 2 Red Quote Book

Don Halquist was one of my favorite professors and one of only 3 truly inspiring teachers I have had in my life. Don was my Microcomputers in the Classroom teacher at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. I was in the Post Baccalaureate Teaching Credential Program there, which I thoroughly enjoyed. One reason I liked it so much was that most of the students were about my age and working towards a second or even third career. Don Halquist modeled teaching practices rather than telling us about them and he showed concern for each of his students. He really encouraged me in my learning, offering guidance when I had too many ideas. Thanks, Don!

 



 

 

 

The Red Quote Book

One of my Facebook friends seemed so surprised that someone else said they were putting her quote in their quote book, that I wanted to share pages from my first complete quote book.

I was inspired to create a Quote Book when my daughter gave me a red hard-bound book with blank unlined pages for my birthday in 2000. That is the kind of book I favor for my journal writing because it lends itself to either writing or drawing. My daughter included a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt on the front page. Since I was preparing to move out of state, I thought I would follow her lead and collect quotes from people I was leaving behind as well as those I would meet. It took about 4 years to fill the book. Some people drew pictures, others wrote poems. I added a lot of art work. My favorite medium used in the book is crayons, but I also have a variety of colored ink pens, pencils and markers that I used. The book is unconventional in that there were no rules. I told people that they could write on any page in any direction and so that is how it is. I will post a few pages at a time. Here are the first few.

Discovering Ontario - Preschool Gymnastics

   Today I saw my grandson perform for the first time at his new gymnastics class. His mom put him into a preschool gymnastics class at Frequent Flyer Xtreme Gymnastics. I was very impressed with the large, clean facility. I believe the business is fairly new so if you are interested in gymnastics (and who isn't after watching the Olympics this week?), check out their web site: www.ffxgym.com. The fliers I picked up explained that FFX Gymnastics has a 21,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility; and that they have classes for all ages and abilities, tumbling, cheerleading practice times, a gymnastics team, and they offer birthday parties. That is a lot of options.
   Little Logi began his class in the dedicated preschool area where Coach Trevor guided him through a circuit training that introduced cartwheels, handstands, balance, and coordination. Logan loved all the jumping, tumbling, and then bouncing on the trampoline. He told me about Coach Trevor all the way to class and when class was over, he got into his car seat and said, "That was fun!" Just what parents and grandparents love to hear. That is money well-spent!

Rocky the Squirrel

Quote of the Day:

Discipline determines Destiny.

~ Dr. Charles Randall

  Sorting through papers to find teaching ideas, I came across this wonderful writing exercise presented by Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson, my University of New Mexico professor of Children's Literature and children's book author. She came to Placitas Elementary School in Placitas, NM to lead an in-service workshop. I would like to share my journey.

Layered Writing Workshop by Jeanne Whitehouse Peterson

Materials: 1 sheet white paper & pen or pencil.
Directions: Fold paper in half hamburger style for 4 writing sides. Direct students in four 2 minute writing exercises.


(Cover)

Step 1: Think of a place, inside or outside, that you feel comfortable in; a place that delights you, or speaks to you, and write about it.


If I could be anywhere, I would love to be in the rez swimming pool in my workout suit, swimming laps and feeling the pull of my arms against the water. I love the freedom from weight that the water provides. I like the  physicalness of moving my legs up and down in a flutter kick and the mindlessness the exercise provides.

Step 2: Reread. Highlight or circle 2 or 3 words that jump out at you. 

Step 3: Choose one of your highlighted words as a title for the next 2 minute write.



(Inside Front Cover)

Step 1: Follow the last train of thought or let your chosen word guide you.

Step 2: Write for 2 minutes or so.

 Mindlessness

To be free from thinking and rethinking is such peace. I love to sit in my closet, my sanctuary, and center myself with incense and candles. I sit unthinking and let images, colors, shapes or ideas come to me without effort.

Step 3: Again, choose a word or two words you like. 

Step 4: Use your choice as a title.



(Inside Back Cover)

Step 1: Write for 2 minutes.

Thinking and Rethinking

To be going to school, learning a trade, and continuing my spiritual growth is a constant process of thinking & rethinking. I have thought my whole life that learning is a spiral and I see it, feel it, live it, now more than ever before. Every new thing I learn must be incorporated with what I thought I already knew. Each time, I realize I have come full circle, but on a higher level.


Step 2: There is always a common thread in the first 3 writings. Find your commonality, then on the back, write about something totally unrelated.


(Back Cover)

Step 1: Write for 2 minutes or so on your unrelated topic. 

Rocky the squirrel

Was a funny creature.

He was small and furry.

We gave him seeds and

he stuffed them in his cheeks

as if we would never

feed him again.

As an orphaned baby

He clung to the rabbit skin

We provided as a surrogate mother.

As he grew

We gave him more and more freedom

And then one day,

He left.

Just like a child.

Step 2: Notice how the 4th piece always ties in somehow.

What a cool exercise. What do you think was the overall relationship?