Carolyn Miller and I left around 2pm for Harding University to attend the Young Author Series. Some people took pictures during the event, but it felt intrusive to me, so I didn't take any pictures. I will share with you that Jacqueline Woodson is a tremendous speaker, writer, and hope-filled author. I found myself inspired to change an entire project Karen and I have started planning (sorry Karen!) and I am purchasing many of her books today to read as a kick-off to Black History Month (if that is ok with Karen?). I want to read her books... but more than that, I want her to read her books to me. Her voice... her presence... truly made the stories, character, and struggles come to life and connect. Her web site is http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/ and I hope each of you will take a minute and check out her site and give one of her picture books or young adult books a read!
Carolyn and I visited Rest Hills Cemetery while going through North Little Rock. Now, this cemetery has been a part of my family since well before I was born. As a young child I had a very terrifying and quite humorous (to my siblings) encounter with a goose from, well, you know where... at my Papa's funeral. I have visited Rest Hills my entire life. Both of my parents, my mother's parents, my uncle... they are all buried there. Also, my precious daughter Sarah Avery is buried there... I say all of this to tell you that it took Carolyn and I over 30 minutes TO FIND IT! They have rerouted some access roads, made access roads one way, and build this enormous walled access ramp that blocks view of the cemetery completely! I even had begun to panic and Carolyn stayed calm and patient with me as I worked through all the changes to my hometown and found my babies resting place. Thank you Carolyn. It was a quick visit... already very emotional when arrived... but Carolyn, again, demonstrated patience and true friendship during this trip. Thank you Carolyn. I know you will be pleased to know that on our next visit I want to bring some things with me to leave behind...
I have posted some pictures below of the dogs.. this is their new habit. We keep the heat on 68 degrees to save propane. We have small eco-friendly (recommended by a green web site) space heaters in the rooms with the highest ceilings.. it keeps us warm without warming empty space... I know, I know heat rises.. but this has really saved $$ and kept us feeling like we are leaving a smaller carbon footprint. Anyway.. now the dogs have discovered the space heater and they are definitely enjoying it... check it out below.
I also want to share how proud I am of our STAR students. We did a (used) book drive for a library being built in Lesotho Africa. We ended up with over 150 books being donated and we have 44 students on our team.. we are very proud of them. The books were picked up on Friday and we were left with a video and the opportunity to write letters to the children who are going to benefit from the library. Karen and I are so excited about this opportunity to extend our students awareness to another country... another continent.. another reality... another world.
1 comment:
You know it is cold when the dogs are huddling by the space heater! When we got to AZ on Thurs the temp here was 75 --it was 5 in Springfield. The weather and the sunshine have made me feel better about not being home.
The conference sounds very interesting-- how did you hear about this author? I will check out her site and maybe find a book for my 2009 reading list. I am just finishing up Transforming Russia, three hundred years of Russian history condensed to 150 pages. It is the stuff I learned in 10th grade I'm sure but forgot long ago. It is a good refresher course for my trip in May.
Well, you have been waiting and my jacket it posted- at last.
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