Tuesday, June 26, 2012

ah, summer

 mr. twinkle eyes

The baseball season wound up with success. The main success in my mind is kind coaches and good spirit of the game, plenty of runs, catches, surprise double-play unassisted (!), even a rainbow. A very dear young fellow who was sometimes kicking flowers and dirt and other times making some awesome plays, best smile on the team! And my very own sweet guy was a team leader, praised by his coaches for his sportsmanship and manners.

We spent the day as a family on Mount Desert Island to celebrate 13 years of marriage. We hit all the high points (ha!): Pirate's Cove mini-golf (I got a hole-in-one!), then lunch at our favorite beach with plenty of rocks to skip and balance, then one of our favorite hikes up Parkman Mountain, catching up with friends, ice cream, dinner, and a surprise chance meeting with a dear, dear friend on the street!



 these two beauties were collected, then lovingly grudgingly tossed back 
when informed of the "remove no rocks policy" of the park

 he listens to the rocks
 kiss sandwich!!!

And now, summer vacation. I made it through my first teaching year! WooHoo! And as it turns out, I have a new adventure coming for the fall... I will be the school librarian at a school for 8th/9th graders in the same district as last year. This is thrilling on a couple of counts. 
 red leather chairs for reading: 
yes please.
First, middle school (early high school) students are my favorite age group. They are prickly and interesting and hilarious and it's sort of a precious time in their lives, one that can be awkward and awful sometimes. (And I love reading YA literature.) There is so much that is possible in middle-ish school that becomes harder with older high schoolers.
Second: ONE SCHOOL instead of five! One learning community that I can be part of on a day-to-day basis! Hoorah! This is quite exciting, to think of the possibilities for spur of the moment exchanges and developing relationships with teachers and students that I will see every day. I feel so lucky. And am devouring a lot of YA books this summer, which is awesome.
I visited a very venerable library in Boston this past weekend and I wasn't supposed to take pictures, but I took some before I knew... It was a librarian's geek-out holiday.

And finally, because we've had a lot of rain and gray already this summer, I wanted to show you something blue and summery. Rafter's delight and lots of silliness and the water was warm enough so I could even stay in and play and be part of the shenanigans. This was a rare moment of calm...

4 comments:

  1. Those 8th and 9th graders are so lucky that you are going to be their librarian and rock their lives!!! Go, Iris!

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  2. i think you have the most opportunity to make an impression with that age group. congratulations on surviving the first year teaching!

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  3. My husband and I were fortunate to work with some amazing young people a few years back through a youth ministry program. Because our particular community was small, we had 8th - 12th graders, somewhat challenging, but we all learned so much from each other. For me, middle schoolers are a difficult age for the very reasons you mentioned. It takes a special person to embrace them in this period of transition. I agree with the ladies above...they are so lucky to have you and you'll make a life lasting impression. Enjoy a happy and good summer in eager anticipation of the new school year.

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  4. ACK! But WE were on Mt. Desert Island on June 26th!!! (Wait. Were you there then? Can't remember your anniversary.) That chance meeting should have been with US! (Waaaaahhhhhhhh.) Thinking we'll catch you for at least a day in Moosehead. Happy Anniversary! Hope you had as much fun on MDI as we did......

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