Monday, March 02, 2009

Shpilkes

Shpilkes--the Yiddish word for nervous energy.

Yes, that's what I've got. I had such plans to make today a productive day. I was going to write lessons and mark papers. I was going to make up exams. Instead...

I blogged.

I found a patch for my old friend.

I printed my Obama letter and found the mailing address. (I already e-mailed it but I wanted to send it both ways.)

I took a long walk to check out the weather. It wasn't bad going because the wind was hitting from behind. The return trip was slightly harder. I didn't mind. I found a few interesting people to talk to along the way and I did pick up a few things in the supermarket.

I took lots of pictures, edited them and published some here.

I started shoveling.

I decided to share my photos with everyone. It seems people actually come here to see my pics, although they aren't all that good.

I guess I will do some school work soon. I might even relax a little. The eternal palm tree--no matter what the weather, it is always there.



You can see how high the snow is by looking at this fire hydrant.




The steps to Van Buren HS. You never see them empty.



The neighborhood bar--open!



These guys poured hot water all over the car to get it cleaned off. I was surprised to see how great that worked.



This hearty soul was doing laundry. I wonder if she was all out of clean clothes.



The store was empty.




Hillside Avenue was passable. The cars were going slow but the buses were running. If schools were open I would have had no trouble getting in. I live between two main streets that are always plowed. (The city girl in me could not live anywhere else.)



Here comes the bus.



I was glad to see that I was not the only one out for a stroll.




The plows were out.



I finally mailed my letter to Obama.



I think this guy was plowing his whole block. I wish he was my neighbor.




This car was dug out nice and early.



Maybe I will actually relax for a while and watch a movie or read a book. Or maybe I will take another walk.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now I understand why you can never retire. What teacher would admit to buses running and being able to get to work?? And you feel a need to work and it's not even 1 pm???

Most people (meaning me) would have happily rolled over and went back to sleep.

But the pics are beautiful. So you did contribute something wonderful this day.

Schoolgal

Kim said...

Even though it worked, I wouldn't recommend using hot water to clean off a cold, snowy car. Ever put ice-cold water in a hot bowl? Same principle - if the temperature differential is too great, you might crack the glass. True, the windshield is safety glass, but it's still glass.

Miss Eyre said...

You have more fortitude than me! I went out in the late morning to dig out my car, and the wind was so bad that I went straight back inside and didn't come out again.

Anonymous said...

like mother like daughter. i made andrew take me for a walk in the snow and then was disappointed when we got to maggie moos and they were closed so couldnt get ice cream for the walk back.

Pissedoffteacher said...

I miss my daughter. She lives hours away. She is the only one who would walk with me on a day like today.

Under Assault said...

PO, I can't believe we were on the same wavelength again today. Two times.

First, I made some similar wake-up comments for Obama on Ednotes (on his post "How do you watch Arne Duncan") and also on Change.gov. (There's a link in that post to a Clay Burell blog entry in Change.gov.) The way I see it, this is all-out war against educrap. Someone's gotta start listening to teachers.

Then I too resorted to Yiddish, in a comment on Chaz's post about BloomKlein closing schools today. You mention Spilkes ("nervous energy") above, and I virtually called Klein a Paskudnyak over there, a term I learned from my aunt just yesterday. It means "a disgusting, revolting, dishonest, unscrupulous, corrupt person," and I'm sorry I never came across it sooner.

CaliforniaTeacherGuy said...

Thanks for allowing me to catch a glimpse of your fair city under snow. It changes everything, doesn't it?

Rachel Grynberg said...

Glad you had a nice day. I didn't get as much done as I intended, and mostly I slept and relaxed.
I need a snow week.