Little Blue Flowers

They are called Veronica.  This time of year they come out and look remarkably pretty by the front fence.  It is a ground cover that we bought years back, and has spread nicely each year, and when I find myself sitting at my computer worrying about the state of politics or 7th grade, or the latest nastiness on the internet, I can go outside and kneel down and take a picture of them and it somehow gets a little better.

I kind of wish they would last all summer long, but they don't.  I will have to find other little blue flowers to meet that basic human need in July.  But maybe by July we will have figured out how to fix the smashed-in parts of the fence.

Peter was home for his spring break 2 weeks ago, then Daniel was home last week, and they are both back at school now.  Quarta is off in Olympia at the Teen Pact legislative camp with her 8th grade class; it is just Tertia and Steve and I at home this week.  I already gave the 3rd quarter final exam to Quarta's class, and have only 7th grade to worry about this week. Then spring break begins for us, but we are not planning a road trip anywhere.  I hope to be caught up on my grading pretty soon.

I haven't been knitting or sewing much, but I'm filling my time with language study and curriculum writing.  It's a little more enjoyable and addictive when you are your own boss, learning what you want when you want, and interacting with people who aren't forced to be in your class and resentful of it. Besides Duolingo, where I have become a regular but unofficial advocate of Latin, there is Memrise, where there are now two courses based on my Latin for Duolingo course.  And recently I discovered Tatoeba.org, a fascinating database of sentences in many languages.  And based on some of those sentences, Clozemaster.com, another site dedicated to "gamifying" language learning.  It feels a little sad to be looking at my final quarter of school teaching, and I'm sure it will be hard to let it go. But so many opportunities exist online, and I have been in the middle-school track for longer than any of my students have been alive... and it's time to move on.

Vinca, Violets, Rosemary, Forget-me-nots, Lithodora, Lobelia, Hydrangea, Lavender, Jonny-Jump-ups... and maybe more that I haven't discovered yet.