What does a Dental School and a Park have in Common?

 my constant view for over a year now

Nothing, except that it's a beautiful day. I had just finished another appointment at the dental school. (Oh what a long process getting an implant is)  Being close by, there was no way I was going to waste the perfect opportunity to check out Birmingham's newest urban park.

Railroad Park is a 19 acre green space located in a 4 block area that used to be a flat wasteland of weeds and railroad tracks between Downtown on the north and Southside and UAB on the south. The park rises and falls in a gentle interpretation of the city's hilly terrain. On the north the occasional train chugs past runners and strollers alike.

a little boy and his dog watch while a train passes

 

with a view of Downtown behind them, some picnickers enjoy lunch on a little hillside

 

 ...sitting in the sun with a good book, I like the way this guy thinks

The site includes a 2 acre lake, man made wet lands, over 600 trees and masses of flowers as well as a bistro with plenty of seating under a tin roofed pavilion where one can enjoy a snack or a meal. You can see some beautiful photographs that other park goers have taken here if you are interested.

I was there right around noon. It seemed like there were lots of people there just like me, outside enjoying a beautiful day.

More Fresh Fluff

After trying for years, today I finally found a pair Canadian geese parents and their goslings that were willing to pose for a family portrait.

As I turned out of the parking lot at lunch time, this family group was grazing by the side of the road. I stopped my car right in the middle of the road and took 43 pictures, backing up occasionally as the family walked along the edge. A few cars came and went, but they obligingly past me without honking which would have surely spooked Papa Goose.

As it was he stopped and watched me warily a couple of times. Mama Goose and babies trusted him to be on the lookout for danger because they went right on eating and ignoring me.

Aren't they sweet?

Dinner Time

It seems squirrel's love to use my front porch as their dinner plate.

Speaking of dinner, I'm cooking for the family today in honor of the St. Patrick's birthday boy. At his request, we're having chicken and dumplings and German chocolate cake.

Please take a second today and say a prayer for my friend J. I just got the news that she getting a new heart today. This is her second transplant. Her first heart lasted 26 years. Her second about 29. Please pray her third will be a good match.

Have a happy and blessed day everyone!

Dreamtime

The air is as warm as bath water today.... soft as baby clothes.... enveloping me with sleep.... teasing me to close my eyes....to take a nap. I stretch my legs. I close my eyes. I dream. I dream of queens and mothers with their children in arms. Softly my dreams blow by....I drift....I float....my head jerks. I'm awake. Lunch hour is over.

Take a Lunch Break With Me

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I am on jury duty this week. It was a beautiful Southern spring day, so I spent my generous 1 hour and 45 minute lunch break outside in the park.

The fountain in front of the courthouse:



A nice place to rest, feel the breeze on your neck and eat lunch:

A wedding party exited the courthouse and walked across the park to have their picture made in front of the fountain. I am embarrassed to be an obvious voyeur, so my photo of the bride and groom leaves a lot to be desired. You just have to imagine the groom is on the receiving side of this embrace since you can't see anything except his hand:

There was some art for sale:


And around the corner some hot dogs were for sale:

Big beautiful trees provide plenty of shade:

Tomorrow my plan is to visit the art Museum on my lunch hour. It is right across the street from the courthouse. If my case has not been resolved by Wednesday I will visit the library. I haven't been in the old library in many years. As I remember it, the architecture inside was very lovely. This is the new and the old library. They are across the street from one another.

After only one day the verdict is in on the new sandals I shopped for this weekend. While they are extremely cushy and easy to walk in for long distances, the top portion of the sandals is guilty of rubbing my foot raw. See my blister! I had one on each foot by the end of the day.

Gotta run. I've got to pick out the pair of torture chambers I will wear on my feet tomorrow!

Good Old Lunch Time

I had an epiphany today. My lunch hour is to me in the here and now just the same as recess was to me when I was in grammar school. I have not changed a bit in 44 years!

I don't remember being a very enthusiastic student. I loved Literature, Art, History....the rest....I either wasn't interested in at all or I hated it...as in MATH! Yuck!

I was never a fan of grammar. And I know it shows. I know I make all kinds of grammatical mistakes. I have a friend who took a college grammar course. Hearing her talk about the stuff they talked about in that class made me (almost) wish I could take it. Now, at my ripe old ungrammatical age, I really wish I knew the rules.

The teaching method my elementary school used to teach reading was the Look & Say method.

Method 2:

With the 'look and say' method children learn to recognize whole words or sentences rather than individual sounds. Your student will look at a word which you sound, and in turn will repeat the sound (the word). Flashcards with individual words written on them are used for this method often accompanied with a related picture.

If you don't use a picture with the word the child will probably make a wild guess as to what it says trying to remember what sound you made previously. This is not a good method if you don't include pictures.

It is also recommended with this method to use whole short sentences rather than individual words. Write a short sentence representing the picture displayed. Say the sentence and ask the child to repeat it while pointing and looking at each individual word as he/she repeats what you said.

By making word cards you can create different sentences again and again. You can use each word card first to learn individual words and then laying the word cards together to form a sentence. You may need to make several word cards using the same word; e.g. the - and in order to form proper sentences.

In my humble (not really) opinion this is the CRAPPIEST method every devised by pedagogy!

This reader is typical of the ones I was taught from.

Guess Who
Scott, Foresman and Company
Copyright, 1951

Check out the scintillating vocabulary.


What child would not learn to love to read after being exposed to this?

Even so, I do remember Dick, Jane, Sally and Spot with affection. It must be those rose-colored glasses I must use to read now!


Somewhere around the 3rd or 4th grade I began to love to read. I was unstoppable. When I was 10 I was allowed to walk to the neighborhood library alone. I was in heaven! I could go whenever I ran out of books. (those stingy librarians would only allow you to check out something like 3 books...what was up with that? I wanted to take home a whole stack.) No one imposed a reading regime on me, but neither did anyone guide my choices. Once grown I realized there was a whole world of literature that I had missed out on.

Ever since those days reading has been my #1 hobby/safe haven/friend. Until my divorce. My chemical make-up became topsy-turvy. Add to that the fact that somewhere during this time menopause began and I lost my mind (concentration) for good. I still have problems sticking with and finishing a book today. But I have discovered that I can listen to a book on CD and I don't have the same concentration issues. My drive to and from work is 30 to 45 minutes each way so I get quite a bit of reading done.

I began this post writing about recess/lunch hour and it has become something altogether different. So I'll end where I began...lunch.

I have been salivating for a Greek salad with a particular local restaurant's ranch dressing for days. Today, I splurged. It was yummy.

Car Art

Work was stressful today.

I de-stressed by spending my lunch hour sketching again. More pen and ink drawings with colored pencils on old calendar pieces.
Hope you like them.

Sublime - A Good Book and Pen and Ink

Today I spent my lunch hour in my car again. This time I finished listening to Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I have been listening to it as I go to and from work for the past week. A good book makes the trip go by so quickly and I don't feel like it is 1 and 1/2 wasted hours of my day.

Oh, how I love these characters: Elizabeth and Darcy. Mr Wickham, a very bad boy indeed! Jane and Mr. Bingley. Mr Bennet for his dry sense of humor.


While I listened I also sketched some.



Both of these are drawn on top of a former calendar that I cut into 2.5 by 3.5 inch cards. The flowers and leaves that you can make out were part of the decoration on the calendars. I'm doing my part to recycle! Really, I am just trying to see what sort of effect I can get by combining the two images.

Which movie or television version of Pride and Prejudice do you prefer? The 1995 BBC adaptation starring Colin Firth or the 2005 movie with Keira Knightley? I choose both for different reasons...the BBC because of Colin Firth ( of course! ) but the 2005 movie because the photography was superb and you don't have to give up 6 or more hours of your life to watch it.

Did you know that the theme of Bridget Jones' Diary is taken straight from Miss Austen's book? Have you seen Bollywood's version, Bride and Prejudice? If you haven't, seriously see it. For those of you who have never seen a Bollywood movie, be prepared for music and dancing.

A Girl Can Shop Only So Much...

Since I work close to the largest shopping area in my hometown, I usually try to do all of my shopping on my lunch hour but...a girl can shop only so much.

I happily spend my non-shopping lunches in my car. In fact, I love to spend the whole hour in the car.


The parking lot faces the woods.

The wind blows. The birds twitter.


I read. I listen to books on tape.

I sketch.

I sleep. (Two of my co-workers drove up and took naps while I read today.

Audra naps today.
Cece naps today too.

I love my lunch hour!
I'm refreshed. Time to go back to work.