Lesson 760: Fear Facing

 Hello, Readers.

I'm writing to you for the 760th time,

under the fading light of day.

I love the fall, 

but really hate to say goodbye to the evening daylight.

I'm a person who thrives

under the bright, yellow sun.

My light was dimmed last weekend

as I had a completely stupid accident 

with my favorite van.

It's better for your brain to wonder and guess,

so I'll spare you the details,

but give you a clue.

Look for a giant, bright yellow, cement post

near the pedestrian crosswalk in the Walmart parking lot.

Then you can try to figure out

how I managed to do it 

when I was at a complete stop

20 feet from it.

This actually my second worst whoops with a vehicle.

Holding the #1 spot on 

Eloise's List of Mishaps

was when I accidentally drove through the garage wall.

It's a mystery only my alter ego,

Fionnula Flannigan could understand.

Not sure who Finnoula is?
Look up Eloise Hawking 

from LOST,

and some really old blog posts of mine,

and the researchers among you may have your answers.

Both Fionnula and I love trees!

This is my favorite one.

I've been taking photos of it all year

hoping to recreate a photo series like this.

I also love this drawing that I shared with my students this week.

It is found in the Life is Good book 

by Bert and John Jacobs.

Having a optimistic attitude 

is one of the best practices for students.

I am guessing the fall colors are at their peak in Erie.

Soak it all in before the fall 

winds

and rains

blow in 

and 

knock 

them

all 

down.

The squirrels feel it,

but they aren't afraid.

They recognize the fall 

as a natural part of the cycle of life.

They are readying for winter gathering nuts.

Hazel is not impressed.

Penny's not quite sure 

what is going on,

but she'll keep her eye on Hazel and look for clues.

She's not afraid.

The Huskies are playing Away

but it feels like Home.

The first Rumble on Route 20 takes place tonight

and we'll be heading out to see the 

much anticipated match-up.

I wish I would have remembered to ask #51

if I could post the video of him from last weekend.

Sam faced his fears and went to 

this with his friends:

If we lived in Oz,

Sam would be the lion.

He has a strong stature 

and fearsome growl,

but he's a big softie.

Because it's the season to be spooky

it was time for Sam to face his fears.

He was chased down by a pig with a chainsaw,

and his friends will have laughs about that for a lifetime.

The best part was returning home,

banging in the door,

jacked on adrenaline,

announcing to the sleeping household

how much fun he had.

This is the important lesson of the weekend.

It's about fears and having the bravery to face them.

This morning,

The Daily from the New York Times,

one of my very favorite podcasts,

posted this episode for kids:

A Special Episode for Kids: The Fear FacerThe Daily

• • Daily News

Nine-year-old Ella was terrified of tornadoes and getting sick. So she did something that was even scarier than her fears: confront them. Guests: Ella Maners and her mother, Katie Maners, and Julia Longoria, a producer for “The Daily.” For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.

Ella spent a week at Fear Facers Summer Camp, a day camp in Florida that helps children learn to deal with obsessive-compulsive and anxiety disorders.

Nine year old Ella was interviewed

and she did a fabulous job

talking about her OCD.

If you have a child with fears,

OCD,

or have limiting fears yourself,

give this a listen for your weekend homework.

If Ghost Lake Multiverse

and pigs with chainsaws aren't 

your cup of tea,

you have this nice option available

in the Harborcreek Community Park.

I'll be watching Hocus Pocus 2 this weekend,

NOT Dahmer.

For your final chuckle about facing fears--

Ellen Louise,

my very studious

 and well educated college daughter.

was talking about Dahmer and deciding whether she would

watch the Netfilx series 

about the nations most disturbing serial killer.

She asked if he was the guy from Erie

that was killed on upper Peach Street with the collar thing.

No, Ellen, dear.....

that was the Pizza Bomber.

Both tragedies,

but not the same thing.

Eloise

Lesson 759: Thinking About Thinking

Hello, Readers.

I'm writing under gray skies tonight,

feeling the fall's damp chill creep into my joints.

It's good to remember the bright,

late afternoons of this past week.

Sunny yellows,

burnt oranges,

warm golds,

bright blues,

and pinks!

This lively group of healthy kids and adults

sure was fun to run into on an after school dog walk.

I spend a lot of time with kids

and thinking about kids during my weeks.

Thinking about kids thinking

got 

me 

thinking.

I came across this quote 

from anthropologist Margaret Mead

many years ago.

Every now and again 

I print a version of it

and stick it in my teacher lesson plan book.

It serves as a reminder

of what is really important.

Some of my students worked on a 

very confusing problem this week.

It was actually a trick question.

Perhaps you know of it.

CLICK HERE for missing dollar problem

If that version didn't make sense,

try this explanation.

CLICK HERE for mystery of the vanishing dollar

Because kids deal with problem solving daily,

multiple times a day,

they are good at it.

Way better than most adults.

Readers of 18, take note.

They argue.

A lot.

When they can't make sense of one another

through words,

they don't take things personally

"and take a break from social media....."

They try to explain their thinking 

in different ways.

Drawing it out.

Modeling the problem.

And they even busted out the primary students' cash register.

Notice the new one has a debit card slide.

Margaret Mead also concluded something 

that really resonated with me this week.

She presented evidence in a way 

I had never thought about before.

I was thinking about my thinking--

and this is really a profound thought.

Weekend Homework.

Read.

Bonus Homework.

Be civilized.

Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.

But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal.

A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said."

We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized.

13Helen Overdorff, Wendy Woods Chwatek and 11 others

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One cool cat enjoying civilization--

not Dick Overdorff.

His sidekick,

Heterochromic Charlie.

Have a great weekend, Readers.

Eloise

Lesson 758: Connect the Dots

Hello there, Readers.

It's time to take a look-back at the week.

If Steve Jobs was correct,

we'll be doing some dot connecting tonight!

A look to the skies tells us it's 

officially fall.

Erie's comfortable cloud cover is back.

I really don't mind it 

because it makes for some beautiful photographs!

Here's the biggest dot I connected all week:

That's Mr. Motensen,

the Assistant Principal at the High School

peeking down at us from the roof.

That's because we have a roof hatch!

All good LOST fans will know the significance

of a hatch.

It leads up to the roof over the Senior High gym

Where a large satellite antenna is being installed.

Even better,

the students assembled the antennas themselves!

Many more dots to connect on this developing story.

The sky dot we call the moon was a crescent last night.

It hung like a sideways smile over the place we 

spent some of last evening.

#51 had an insect bite gone bad.

Some oral antibiotics should do the trick.

HINT:  always remember to clean your bite area

with Bactine.

Since we are on the subject of bugs,

let's talk about bees.

They've been crawling all over the mums

and I've been giving them a pep talk

about their survival.

Come to find out,

It's Bees Knees Week.

It's a drink made with honey and gin.

I discovered it this summer when my mom and sis

taught me how to play Gin.

This his how you make it---

and below the recipe,

you'll see a hand crawling with bees.

Do you follow the lady saving the bees on TikTok

who moves all the hives?
I would LOVE to hold bees like that someday.

One dot I absolutely cannot stand is this one:
Do you see it?

Why does that advertisement have to go over the W in News?

My two dot daughters are headed to the camp to hike.

Which means in Twentysomething Girl Terms

means a walk on a paved path and lots of Instagram photos.

These two DC Dots came home last weekend,

not for some gin,

but some wine!

They also got to see Sam off to Homecoming.

I know you are all about the group shot,

but I am not.

I'm the queen of the goofy shot.

No photo is complete without 

your date,

a dog,

and a John Deere tractor.

Or the photo of the guys and Grandma.

Ummmmm,

I think they had themselves a good time.

The biggest dot of the week was my 

Help Us Spot Dot! post on facebook.

The new stray kitten that showed up last month

at my parents' house next door disappeared.

On the day of the monsoon rains,

nonetheless!

We all blamed my dad for leaving the doors propped open,
The cats like him for some reason.

Two strays have shown up on the property

over the last 10 months,

and they adopted them both.

This white cat Charlie, 

with one blue eye and one brown,

follows my dad around like a dog.

They like to burn sticks together.

It turns out Dot was not outside soaked and cold.

She was Dot in a Pot!

Out she came from the cupboard 

after being enclosed for about 12 hours.

She sure was glad to see my Dad!

Sorry for the misplaced blame.

Here is your public apology.

Dot and I have loved connecting the dots 

with you tonight.

Go make it happen this weekend.

Weekend Homework:

Take this advice from the kids at Clark School.

Eloise