Friday, August 15, 2025

Lesson 912: Office Hours

 Hello, Readers!

What a fine Friday night it is!

I'm typing away outside tonight

listening to the insects and frogs.

I love the sounds of night summer.

The mosquitoes have driven the rest of my gang

inside the Lamp Post.



They rarely bite me though.

I say it is because I am at one with nature.

I certainly have put my time into my outdoor office

this summer.

Here is my evidence:










My Outdoor Office Hours

are between 7:30 and 8:30,

both am and pm.

Join me if you want to help water.

I do it the old fashioned way with watering cans.

It's great exercise 

and I always get all of my steps.

My watering path gets me 1.3 miles

just in our yard!

I did not hold evening office hours last Sunday,

as we went on a field trip

to the other Erie County.

We went to the Erie County Fair in Buffalo, NY.

It was wonderful!

I was enthralled with the plants!

I'm recreating a plan for this bean teepee

during my weekend Office Hours.

Coming Summer 2026!

This carousel has two levels.


And we got to watch a calf being born
in the Moo-ternity ward!


The big winner was Charlie,
who won the biggest prize of all!
A giant chinchilla for Ellen's new classroom.
Photo next week
after she finishes her set up.

Speaking of classrooms,
I was assigned an amazing new space
at the high school.
I just love it!
The clock in the room is frozen at 2:33--
the time my last child educated by the 
Harbor Creek School District 
left the building 
on May 23rd.


Office Hours for the 2025-26 School Year
begin very soon!

Highlights of the week--
We got a little bit of much needed rain.



We went out to Battles Farm in Girard, PA
to see a million sunflowers.




Friend Jen took me for our summer coffee date
to Woods & River Coffee
in Oil City!


My gang got in a round 
at their favorite course--
Hunter's Station in
Tionesta.


I'm making some headway on health.
Eloise spent 2 1/2 hours in the dentist's chair yesterday.
I felt really well today--
the best I felt in months,
albeit very, very tired.
Pain saps your energy,
that's for sure.



What did I think about for two and a half hours
with my mouth wide open
and my eyes scrunched tight?

Christmases, of course!

When I'm doing something unpleasant,
tedious,
or downright painful,
I put my mind to happier times.
I love Christmas,
so I mentally recount each Christmas I can remember,
chronologically.
It gives my brain a job.

The Christmas I got a doll house.
The Christmas a tent was set up in the living room
The Christmas the barn collapsed under the heavy, wet snow.
The Christmas we got five feet of snow!

It was a long process,
so I ran out of Christmases,
so moved onto vacations.
I mentally all of the places I've visited.
 My family is compiling our list,
and are determining our final rankings this week.
I'll share when the decisions are made.

Despite my underlying case 
of the ills and the icks
that has been plaguing me for many months,
I've still been able to maintain a general level of happiness.
It was a fun summer with so many celebrations
and excitement for great things to come.

There is a science of happiness
and proven techniques that can improve 
your mood and spirit.

I was overjoyed to find that one of my favorite
authors, writers, and teachers,
Arthur Brooks,
has a new YouTube channel
called Office Hours with Arthur Brooks.


Here is the link to the intro.
Weekend Homework:
Check it out, along with the first episode.

CLICK HERE for YouTube intro to Office Hours

It's never popular for a teacher to assign homework 

before the school year begins,

but it's really worth your time.

If you like reading,

here is a quick article:

Day in the Life Arthur Brooks

This book is a Five Star Read

in my Lamp Post Library.


This one is on my TBR List:


Have a great weekend!
See you next week for a fall-preview
of fun things happening in and around
The Lamp Post.

And Pssst!
Tell my kids I need this shirt:



Eloise






Friday, August 8, 2025

Lesson 911: Blue Dandelion

Hello, Readers!

It's funny how then numbers on this blog 

work sometimes.

Lesson 911

and I had a 9-1-1 level emergency!

Eloise went into the doctor

to have a CT scan for facial pain and swelling--

and I came out much worse than I went it.


                                                         I had an anaphylactic reaction to the injected dye!

That was me after the Benedryl had been working.

911 is also the number you call if you see smoke.

The Canadian wildfires are burning and 

the US feels them!




The shot below was taken on  Monday

on our way home from our long weekend

in the Pocono Mountains--

which were blanketed with smoke.

Here is my souvenir mug!

The title Blue Dandelion

comes from the chicory plant

we find growing along the side of roadways

here in Pennsylvania.

It's also known as the Blue Dandelion

and I loved the name

and will forever call it that.

It is one of the world's 

most pure and beautiful colors.


I am still taking Bendryl for another day
and it is making me very
tired and slow thinking.

I'll comment more on our vacation
next week,
and assign it our overall ranking
as far as family vacations go.

Here is a peek of some things we did!












See you next week
when I'm hopefully feeling a little better!

Eloise




Friday, August 1, 2025

Lesson 910: AwwGus

Hello, Readers!

Happy Friday!


I love it when the first day of the month

falls on a Friday.

We call it Flip the Calendar Day

here at the Lamp Post.

It's Natalie's 12 favorite days of the year!

How perfect to give my first August blog of 2025

to Gus---Ellen's college cat!

AwwGus!

He is now a Graduate of the Speech and Hearing Sciences Department

of Penn West Edinboro.

He is teaching his new friend Whitford

how to be a cat.

Whitford doesn't even have a meow yet--

he has a squeak.


Gus is the friendliest cat!


He loves to chase the balls of yarn
as Ellen crochets.


Natalie adores him!


Gus is even a good sport.
His face appears on many a cat food bag


and greeting card.


He's been very patient with his new little friend.
Gus has to be--
he was adopted into a family of teachers.


Little Whitford is growing longer and stronger every day.


 Naps in the sunny spot certainly help.


He is much loved.


This self-professed Dog Person
has become a Cat Lover, too.

We can't wait for this cat to roar!


Saturday, August 30th!


Onto other news from the week--

The flower harvest has begun--
I'm cutting some zinnias
in the hope that more will grow.





Natalie grew another zucchini



and she tied up her herbs to dry!


This little wren likes to sit 
on the head of the rooster
on my weather vane.





Some squash and gourds
are hiding beneath the leaves!



I spy a green tomato!


And some bean flowers!


We grew some sunflowers with the zinnias.


We've observe they start to open


when the Canadian geese
return to the park!



Grandma and Grandpa's flower pot
grew a friend for the tall orange flower
that they named Sam.


She's tall and pink
so they named her Anna.


We planted many varieties of sunflowers 
this winter.
All were grown from seed.


If you drive down Firman Road
check out this little squatty one
at the end of my parents' driveway.


It's a dwarf!


A lesson for all the procrastinators out there:
 
Our neighbor brought us over a load of firewood
on one of the hottest days of the year.
There was a big pile that needed stacked.
Mr. Lamp Post was working at Whitford Park all day
and I didn't want him to spend more time outdoors
after work doing physical stuff,
so I decided to put a dent in the woodpile myself.

I make a game out of things,
especially when things are long, hard tasks.
I tried to guess how many pieces of firewood were in the pile--
My guess: 200.
I told myself I'd do 100
and time myself to see how long it took.
7 minutes--that was it.
It appeared I was about halfway through the pile,
and out of my own curiosity,
I committed to doing another 100.

Sure enough,
I was about right--
241 pieces stacked in 16 minutes!
When work is hard 
and drudgery is at play--
be creative!

We are all set for this winter,

and it is only AwwwGus first!

Enjoy the summer weekend!

Eloise