Snow outside, garden inside

A good weekend for staying inside and reading some good books or keeping up with the indoor gardening. Although the weather outside is indeed frightful, indoors there's some blooming going on.

Here's an image of the giant cactus and overgrown aloe plant thriving inside while outside the snow piles up on the fence and in the driveway.

This aloe blooms regularly, sending up long canes with odd little flowers sprouting from them.

Below is a Phalaenopsis I picked up in bloom at Donzell's Garden Center in the fall. After it finished blooming, I fed it some orchid food and new buds began appearing on the old stems. Here is a closeup of a new bloom:


















Below, the thrilling sight of my Lady Macbeth Paphiopedilum budding for the third year in a row. I purchased this orchid via Ebay and it is turning out to be my most successful orchid. It is certainly the most dramatic!





















What could be easier to grow than African violets? I picked up two fancy ones at the same time. They feature ruffly leaves with pink edges and the flowers are a gorgeous purple. The pictures I took today all came out blue for some reason.























Finally, here's a very special amaryllis (actually Hippeastrum) given to me by a graduating student two years ago. I was told that the plant was a daughter bulb from a family heirloom plant that had been maintained since the early part of the 20th century. You can see the phalaenopsis blooming in the background. I keep my indoor plants under fluorescent grow lights all year long.

No school today

The ride back from Cincinnati yesterday was brutally cold. Cincinnati felt like Cleveland with sharp biting winds that only grew more ferocious as I headed north. Getting out of my truck at rest stops and gas stations prompted me to dash full tilt from one warm space to the other, as the wind howled and lashed its cold icy fingers around me. I was glad there was no major snow storm to go along with it as I made my way back to Akron. The further north I got, the less effect my 14 year old truck's heater had on the inside of the cab -- only my feet stayed warm!

Today, no school and a snow storm is promised for the overnight hours and on through Tuesday day, which may mean another day off school. I may be the only teacher in Akron who hates no school due to weather days -- it means missing rehearsals, which is never a good thing. Ah well, no use fretting about it! Time to focus on other things that need doing and know that we will be playing "catch-up" when school is finally back in session.

Snow Dazed and Confused...

...we returned to school today, parents over-joyed while students and teachers struggled to figure out how to get back on track and play catch-up. Lots of frantic re-scheduling of everything from Valentine's parties to play dates and sporting events.

The challenge for the teacher is how fast you can get them to remember everything they've learned so far so you can guide them ever onward.

I expect that non-teaching adults might envy our paid "calamity days" off per contract. I will tell you that this teacher stressed over each missing minute of school and spent a great deal of the time snowed in working on things that would directly benefit my students.

The great mounds of snow began to melt rapidly today. Spring is just around the corner And we are back at school -- hooray!

Snow Day Three

One more picture from the Great Snow of 2007.

Another school day off. We have used up all our snow days! I miss my students and feel very out of sync with all upcoming deadlines.

More digging out today after the snow plow made it up our hill, but nothing too difficult. I revved up the vehicle and drove for the first time since Tuesday morning. The roads had been plowed but lots of snow was still apparent on the streets and sidewalks.

I made it to the Kenmore Acme and picked up some soy milk, tofu and vegetables. Looks like the drive to school tomorrow will be fine. Yes, the kids are out of school tomorrow, but the teachers will report for their mandatory In-Service Day.

Meanwhile like an absurdist drama, the Iraq debate continues in the House. The citizens figured it out by last November, yet the politicians are still trying to figure out "the safest" way to vote on the non-binding resolution.

Digging Out

The snow stopped at noon today, as forecast.
We've dug out a path for the US postal carrier.




















And a path to the compost bin in the backyard. Oberon is making his own paths round the garden and under the pine tree.



Our short but steep side street has yet to see a plow. My drive still needs digging out, so I've put out a call for the young lad living next door to give me a hand. I'm taking a reading break for awhile. Akron Reads on Snow Days!

Another Snow Day in NE Ohio

I woke today as usual to the sound of 1350 AM's Bill Press show, staying warm under the quilts until the local news and weather break. Not a peep about school closings, and the weather report was not delivered in tones of Major Winter Storm Ahead. So I got up, dressed, let the dog out and in, poured the coffee and headed out to my vehicle.

The roads were drivable, but when I got to Margaret Park Elementary school, there was not a child, car or crossing guard to be seen. Uh oh. I drove on past toward my school, just in case Margaret Park was having a heating breakdown or something. Nobody was there either, so I turned around and headed home, much to the delight of the resident dog and cat.

I did fire off an email to Radio Free Ohio, urging them to at least report that schools in the area were closing and for listeners to check with their local district for further information. I don't want to set my radio alarm to WAKR, fer cyin' out loud!

I am not happy to be home today, as the more time off from school, the harder it is to get the kids back on track. However, I'll make the best of it. Switching on the TV to C-span and I see that the House is starting to debate their resolution to oppose the troop build up in Iraq. I wonder how many snow-bound citizens will stumble upon this on-going reality show? Everybody gets their five minutes to speak to the problem at hand. The people's house of government is not going to run away from this disaster that is Bush's war in Iraq.