World Teachers Day

One blog I follow is: //charlesfrenchonwordsreadingandwriting.wordpress.com/

Professor French has given me some wonderful tips and encouragement on writing. His kind and generous comments have kept me posting here when I was ready to throw in the towel. It’s like getting an education via blogging. I have not had the funds or the opportunity to pursue a higher education so I learn everywhere I can. Had I achieved that goal, I would have chosen to be a teacher.

It speaks for itself

This morning he re-blogged a post from: https://surfingtheseagard.wordpress.com/2016/10/05/world-teachers-day-2016-celebrating-the-jobs-and-art-of-two-of-my-favourite-teachers/

As you know I don’t normally re-blog though this post stirred something in me. I value education and good teaching. Not all teachers are good but a great deal are and so very under appreciated. It’s like any profession; you get some good and some that should find other work. But here is my comment on that post:

When they celebrate teachers the way they do actors, musicians and football players, the world will be right and proper. Someone taught them all those things. They are our front line and should be paid like doctors and lawyers. I have always felt that way and it bothers me that no one seems to get it. I’ll get off the soap box now.

Dr. French suggested I not get off the soapbox, rather post on it. So I’m looking for a bigger soapbox. I feel VERY strongly that the teaching profession is undervalued and as a result, we are not getting the quality of teachers we should have nor are we keeping those that inspire and challenge our children.

My children were bored out of their minds in school. One teacher complained that my daughter was growing books in her desk because each time she took one away, my daughter came up with another to stick inside the textbook she had already read the first week of school. My son had to go into gifted classes, when they were available, to be challenged enough not to yawn through school.

Teachers are often struggling with the same bureaucratic nonsense to which other professions are subjected. It’s not their fault they aren’t allowed to push a little harder. As a responsible parent, the best I could do was provide them with any book available and a public library to feed their curious minds. They had to be taught how to learn on their own as much as from school.

There are many ways to teach and I applaud and appreciate them all. Those who write books were taught how to do that and I buy books to keep them coming. To me, a good day is a day I learn something new. I have a teacher to thank for that and I did. Maybe one day I’ll post the letter I wrote to her.

Do you have a teacher to thank for where you are today?

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself

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In Search of a Second Quote

There is much I want to share with you today but mostly I want to share my love of learning. Several blogs I follow have done the 3 quotes in three days challenge. I wasn’t able to think straight at the time but these ladies have taught me a great deal, although only a couple have done the challenge…so far.

Gardening Nirvana has two blogs but you can see her wonderful quotes here and enjoy some rays of sunshine. She exudes it. Maybe she’s storing it up while in her garden.

Momermom is someone I’d like to hear from more often. Her quotes were wonderful and so is her sewing skill and her writing. She has such great heart.

Conscious Engagement offered me a wonderful quote yesterday and I seriously thought about borrowing it but decided to invite her to join in. Her photographs are incredible as are her travels. I get to go along for free without leaving the living room. Yay!

Can you tell I’ve broken all the rules here?

Things are slowing down here. We have rebuilt the deck structure after the fire uncovered lots of dry rot.

We couldn’t see it because it was the foundation!

I’ve finished staining the front porch and most of the fencing.

Sitting down on the job but I finished it

Before the stain

After the staining

Before the stain

At least my side is done. Still have the other side to finish. Wood needs protecting

I’ve even started painting the back of the house before the new deck is completely in place.

I figured out that I needed to prime it first. More work.

I’ve finished and sent off a lap quilt to my Aunt Helga in Australia for her 84th birthday the middle of this month but the photos have vanished from the cameras. All that is left is the label I put on the back. It’s flannel for the texture that people with Alzheimer’s need.

I did get the photo of the back side with the label I made on my embroidery machine

There was a last minute rush to get an embroidery done for last weekends wedding gift.

Towels for the happy couple. We are not very traditional.

Also completed earlier this month were a couple of pillow cases for my son’s ex-wife’s birthday. They were a kit with the worst instructions. I went on the internet and found the directions I needed.

I made 2 pillowcases for a birthday gift

There were also more squares to contribute to this month’s donation quilt. I have more things done but that will have to wait for a better time. I’m still trying to catch up.

Purple month with white contrast

The end result of several women adding a couple squares each

Can you spot two of these in that big finished quilt?

Most of what has been done by my son and myself on and in this house has been self-taught. We have found books and more recently on-line videos to teach us the things we don’t know how to do.
My son learned how to re-build my deck with some help from my step-granddaughter’s significant other and the internet.

Step granddaughters significant other is a licensed contractor. Yay for the instruction.

Cutting out the evidence is where we started.

There is a lot we can learn in this world but only if we are open to learning. Once you are open to learning something, there will be a way provided to give you that knowledge. Somehow when you are ready and open enough there is someone or something to teach you what you need to know. That happens with life too. I’ve seen too many that you can see struggle with a problem and you try to help them fix it. Only they aren’t ready for the fix. It took me a long time to learn that I had to be ready to learn the lesson and so do others. It’s always up to us.

So here is my second quote. There is often a lot of synchronicity involved in this reminder.

This teaches me to be a ready student.

Have you ever had a teacher appear when you are needing to learn something?

From my heart to yours,
Marlene Herself