I'm going to start this post with a shout-out to the incredible Mrs. B, over at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom. http://www.confessionsofapagansoccermom.com/
Every year between October1 and October 31, Mrs. B throws every ounce of energy into providing Pagans with enjoyable giveaways, guest blogs on thoughtful topics, and haunted blog tours. (I did a guest and a tour last year.) If you don't already have Mrs. B. on your radar, go and visit!
Now, on to today's sermon: WHAT A WACKY DAY!
When you live in New Jersey, it's almost a given that September brings some kind of tropical storm. We just had one, Nicole by name. She didn't look like a beast until yesterday after dark, when the sky opened up and it poured like God had reneged on the rainbow thing.
By this morning, there was water, water everywhere, and still it fell from the sky. Off I went to school, wiper blades doing double shift.
(Funny aside: I still have the same teacher parking space that I had last year. My space ends at a chain-link fence, behind which live four big, loud German Shepherds and two yappy canines of some other breed. Last year before I achieved wisdom, the sinister barking and snarling of these hounds added to my misery. Now that I'm enlightened, I get out of my car -- 6:45 a.m. -- and sweetly call, "HERE, KITTY KITTY KITTY..." You should just see and hear the rage! Starts me off laughing every day.)
Back to the sermon.
I went into the school. In the mornings I have cafeteria duty, meaning that I stand in the cafeteria while the kids get their breakfast (your tax dollars at work). Today, the cafeteria was under a few inches of water. No breakfast. And pandemonium as we tried to explain that fact to 600 kids.
Finally settled into the morning routine, and -- ZAP! -- out goes the power. And it stays out. And stays out. And stays out.
WHIRRRRRR! On comes the emergency generator. Enough juice for the principal to make an announcement over the intercom: "Please keep all students in their second period classes."
Am I lucky, or what? My second period class only has nine students, and two were absent. The rest were working on computers, but when the juice ran dry, they switched to paper and pen and kept right on working. Yeah. I'm flabbergasted too. But size (or lack thererof) does matter in this case. It's not hard to keep seven kids on task.
You won't believe me, but it's true. School is more boring when you don't have something to do than when you do. Students don't understand this, but teachers do.
The power was out for more than a half hour, but when it came up again, school resumed and the bell schedule was adjusted. Excitement enough for a month of Sundays!
October. In like a lion, out like a lion. Don't give me that lamb stuff. I'm a cat person.
So anyway, it was another long day. On Fridays I like to get my lesson plans done for the following week, and my room tidy, before I come home.
By the time I did get home, around 6:25, the sky had cleared, and beautiful cool autumn weather was descending. Better yet, I discovered that The Spare was going out with her gal pals, and Mr. Johnson was biffing off to do research for his book. Home with nothing to do on a Friday night!
Snobville has these puffy affairs called "First Friday," where all the boutiques and restaurants are open, and there's live music on main street.
BAMP! I would rather swallow a chicken bone.
Beautiful autumn evening, a home football game ... right across the pond ... an 8-minute walk ...
BAMP! Had to buy cat food. And supper. By that time it was dark.
So, what's a happy Druid to do with an evening alone? I got a little supper, some tonic on the rocks, and went to enjoy the solitude of my back porch and a little candle-light from the Shrine of the Mists.
Shrine was fine, but wouldn't you know ... I plopped into a patio chair ... Tropical Storm Nicole ...
So here I am, blogging in my home office, listening to the roar of the crowd in the stadium (next block), with a moistened tooshy to keep me company.
I love October. Don't you?
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