Friday, May 9, 2014

Lesson 300: 100 Grand!


It's the weekend, Readers!


May the force be with you!


I discovered, or rather rediscovered


last weekend.

I was planning a Star Wars lesson for school, and I was forced into watching the 1977 movie.  I thoroughly got confused over the whole starting with Episode IV, A New Hope.  Once I got past that, and popped the DVD into my Blue-Ray, I was hooked.  

What amazed me the most was how much Star Wars is a part of our American culture.  I know all the characters and never have watched the movie:  Luke Skywalker (how cool of a name is that?), Princess Leia, Obi Wan, Chewy.  The famous lines are familiar: 


Even looking at the font type for the movie title brought me back to the 70's when I was in elementary school.  My teaching week was a breeze because my students loved the lesson.  School is easy when learning is fun.  

It was a good week to celebrate!


 Teachers get a whole week!

My students have been studying the universe, 
therefore we must study Einstein along with it!


I always liked Einstein.

We are flooded with Google images and Pinterest pins like these this week:


Appreciation Quotes For Teachers61


Aww, shucks!  
Thanks, everyone!

Teachers also created some good, visuals themselves:  



 Very true.

And as with everything related to education, so comes the sarcasm.


I have no idea what the creator of that ridiculousness was talking about!

I got some fabulous tokens of thanks from my bosses (yes, plural--).
Mrs. Eloise needs several to keep this freight train brain on the rails!


I'm glad the gifts rolled in this week, because the students are more difficult to manage behaviorally during the month of May.  Even the teachers get cagey in May and are known to throw temper tantrums.

Here is your proof.


Sheesh!  My hardworking seventh grader has a toughy for Math,
who seems even more impossible to please as the month drags on.


The biggest news of the week:
Lessons From the Lamp Post


reached 



 What.
The.
Heck.
?!?!?!?!

The number amazes me.  What is it about this blog, started as a way to keep in touch with Cousins Polly, Lisa, and Bonnie from Ohio, that has touched so many?  What is it that keeps people coming back to see us week after week?



I think it's because we have become a little like them:
The Pattersons.


Do you recognize them readers?  For Better or For Worse by cartoonist Lynn Johnson is one of the longest running comic strips in history.  Running new strips weekly for just shy of thirty years, Lynn Johnson took us through the life of Elly Patterson as she raises her family in the Canadian suburbs.  

In case you've been living in an underground bomb shelter, here is the link to Lynn Johnson's website to find out more.  It's great!   


I really identify with Lynn Patterson, the creator of For Better or For Worse.  Her weekly writing, which comes in the form of black and white sketches crammed into small boxes laden with speech bubbles, is a cartoon version of her own life.  This is very similar to Eloise's reports from the Lamp Post.

I suspect that readers check in because it's an identifiable break from the stress of the week. 
Let's see what Eloise is up to.....


The Lamp Post light is always on.  
Light my path, Eloise.....


It's a reliable read for inspiration.
Eloise, I am in need of a kick in the butt--
motivate me.



and for a smile.
Good Lord, I needed that!






I've heard bloggers called pseudo-journalists twice this week.  
Untrue.


I never claimed to be a journalist, nor do I ever want to be one.
Operating under those rules would be too confining for Eloise's writing style.

I flipped over to Journalism for a little while in college, 
and listened to two of my professors battle it out in front of me.
Says my Creative Writing Professor to the Journalism Prof:
You'll ruin her!

 Ruin? 
Never.
I learned a great deal from both fields, 
and the techniques I picked up are evident in my writing.

Sometimes I'm serious.



Sometimes I'm not.




And on a rare occasion, I've been accused of making $h!t up.

Doc's big mouth darn near got him killed!


Thankfully the avatar was able to resuscitate him.


 Now there is gonna be hell to pay!


 No folklore here, Folks!
It's all true blue.

Trust me, I am a blogger! :D

As for the person who was the 100,000th viewer:
The best I can determine is that he or she was an Erieite.


Thank you!


 A special thank you goes out to Leslie.


Last week I called her out and said cookbooks were boring to write.

As with everything she does, Leslie gave new inspiration.


 She gifted me the cookbook she helped write!


It's really cool.


It has pretty pictures of places I'd like to visit,



and stories to go along with each place. 


And the dessert recipes don't look to shabby, either.


She's just the person quirky enough to help me edit
The Cookwizardry of a Peculiar People.
due out Summer 2014.


Thanks, Leslie.

 Thanks, Readers, for checking in to see what the brood in my nest is up to every week.


Right now we are on the hunt for ten Challenge Erie 5 blue stakes.
We found the first one, and are out to get more this summer.


Thanks, Readers, for checking to see if I received your mail.
I did!
Eloise loves mail!


...even if the mail comes from next door.


Thanks, Mom--
aka Grandma in The Key.


She gave me the keys to the farmhouse I was raised in.
The house was built in 1859, 
and these are the keys that fit the original locks!


Thanks, Mom!


 Enjoy the Mother's Day themed photo story:  photos of Mother Nature mixed in with my favorites of Mother Helen.

Again, many thanks for visiting the Lamp Post.  I'll keep writing if you keep reading.  Stop by whenever, even if it's late.  I'll leave the light on for you.

Eloise

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