Vanishing Act

No, I didn't fall into a weird wormhole through the time-space continuum, I wasn't abducted by aliens, and I haven't spent the past 8 1/2 months participating in secret Government-run experiments on hapless goats to create non-shrinkable, hard-wearing cashmere. Where I've been for most of the past year can be summed up in one word.

School.

My students (60 freshmen and 100 juniors) arrived in my classroom on August 21, and it's been a non-stop, madhouse scramble to write lesson plans, run off copies of worksheets, grade papers, and do all those things a full-time high school teacher does. It's fun, but challenging, and very time-consuming.

At the end of September, graduate school started. I decided last April to pursue an Administrative Credential and a Master of Sciences in Educational Leadership for that most basic (and base, in my mind) reasons: I want to make a lot more money than I make as a classroom teacher. I wanted to get the entire program finished in two years, which meant becoming a full-time graduate student in addition to being a full-time teacher. So now, when I'm not grading papers, I'm writing them.

Fortunately, this has been a good year for travel, so I've been able to escape everything periodically by running away to far-off places. Late November found me in the Big Apple, strolling through the Met and marveling at the balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and the lovely windows at Lord & Taylors. New Year's Eve was celebrated "Old School" (perhaps, "Old Country") with a marvelous candle-lit 18th century dinner at the King's Arms Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg. Easter afternoon I was sitting in London's Heathrow Airport, awaiting my flight to Malaga for a week in sunny Spain, followed by a second week back in London. So I've been busy.

My wheel and needles have also been busy. I've nearly finished spinning some truly wild blue and fuschia mohair, and have cranked out several different projects, including one of those circular sweaters in a deep heathery green, and a pair of long stockings out of handspun merino. Currently on the needles is the second sock from some dark purple Honey Lane alpaca that I bought at Stitches West last year. It knits up beautifully, and the socks will be pretty and warm when finished.

Now that school is starting to slow down (25 school days and counting), I can finally look up from my books, and post my rants and raves again. Pax, in advance.