You CAN go home again! At least partway!!

Saturday morning I met up with two friends from high school, and we set out to walk around Granada Hills.  We weren't exactly sure of every place we wanted to go, so we started out by walking to our old elementary school.  Some aspects were quite different - mainly the strong fences all around, and the missing pepper tree in the middle of the playground - but our old classrooms were there, and the lunch area looked as foreboding as ever!!

 

We walked to the homes of other old friends to see if they looked the same.  They mostly did not look the same, but we felt like we were evoking another time by talking about how it used to look, or how we remembered it, or specific memories we had of the various locales.

 

After we headed to the junior high - which was a HUGE disappointment - we wandered around some more until we came to our old high school.  (The disappointment in the junior high was mostly due to the fact that there were no buildings there now that were there when we were there!  We definitely had to use our imaginations!!)

But the disappointment in Patrick Henry Junior High School - now known as Patrick Henry Middle School - was more than offset by the joy and pleasure we found at the high school.  GHHS was there and didn't appear to have changed much at all.  And lucky for us, some kind of band competition was going on, so the campus was open!!  

It was so great to wander into the girls' gym where a group of cheerleaders were practicing, to find our old lockers, to visit classrooms that still seemed to house the same subject matters we had had 50 years ago, to sit in the lunch area that had new tables, yes, but everything was in the same place it had been 50 years ago - even the vending machines - although now they were housed in vandal-proof cages!!

The above photo is an outdoor stage where we met up every morning before classes started to check in with each other, lament the scope of last night's homework, see if there was any news or gossip of note, and get ready to face another day in the trenches.  (All three photos are from GHHS.)

We used the girls' restroom  and swore that the floor tiles and stall doors were original!!

We started at GHHS in February of 1960 - and that was the first day of GHHS - we were the first graduating class to go all the way through.  (It was a 10th through 12th grade high school.)  Since the school was brand new, the trees were pretty small and new too - and that's the biggest difference we noted.  After all, 50 years of tree growth is pretty significant!

My high school years were happy years, so it was quite satisfying to wander about the campus and relive old memories, talk about teachers we had, kids we knew, dreams we had, crushes we cherished.  Maybe everyone wouldn't enjoy this experience, but we did.

Afterwards we walked down Chatsworth and headed back to my mom's house, where we had met and started out.  Walking down Chatsworth and noting where things used to be was a delightful "Memory Lane" kind of experience.  When we got back in to the residential areas, we found more homes of friends and more memories.

We ended with lunch at Brent's Deli in Northridge - and plans to get together in February for more reminiscing anyway!!

Maybe you CAN go partway home again - at least sometimes!!

New car and other news!

We finally got a car - it's a 2008 Volvo - got a good deal too, so we are happy.

It's element project time in 8th grade science - my collaborative class.

So that means my classroom turns into a little construction zone.

And I have a wonderful student teacher working with me - so my room looks a bit more spiffy - more creative than I usually am!

Illustrated spelling lists - and the kids are doing better with the words - fancy that!

Why didn't I do this years ago??

We are busy getting ready for our trip east - and it's been a busy week - teaching seminary two days, speaking at Duarte's R.S. Meeting, returning the rental car, getting the new car, insurance, registration, working at the temple, our week to clean the building, meeting with the missionaries, book group, baby showers - when will I pack?? And when will I do my visiting teaching?? Hmm - might be a mail contact this month!! (But I have seen 3 of them and talked to one of them on the phone - but it was not very in-depth, if you follow my drift!!)

Sad News

On Sunday, Bonnie Card asked if I had any info on the teacher from Mayflower School who been killed in a car accident on Saturday. She said her name was Maggie Clark, but it didn't ring a bell. She said the teacher traveling with her was injured - and it was Jan Dunbar, who I do know. And who was Noah's teacher in 2nd grade.

On Wednesday when I saw Noah, I asked him if he remembered a Maggie Clark and told him about the accident. He replied, "Of course I remember her - she was my 1st grade teacher!!"

So much for my memory!! (In my defense, I was thinking in terms of a colleague, one I called Maggie, rather than one of my kids' teachers, who I would undoubtedly have called Miss Clark! As soon as he said that, I remembered her - and the classroom even, because I used to volunteer in there.)

Noah said, "Didn't I ever tell you about the time she let me be the teacher?" I think if he'd told me the story, I would have remembered it. But then, back in the day of small children in the house, I may have been listening with half an ear. Note to readers: Try retelling the stories you tell your parents - just in case they don't get it the first time!!

He said that he had been a bit rowdy and inattentive, so she said, "Noah, do you want to teach the class?" So he said yes. He said that she went and sat in his seat and folded her hands in her lap and waited for him to teach her!! When I asked him how it went, he said, "It was chaos of course. I wasn't a teacher. But she just sat there, acting the way a student should act." He noted that he'd never forgotten the experience.

From all I have read, she was a wonderful teacher - and she will be sorely missed. The entire Mayflower School - staff and students - are reeling from the blow. I sometimes wonder, when I read in the paper about tragic deaths of a teacher, just how our site would operate if that happened. School sites, especially small ones like Monrovia, are pretty much like a second family. (And for some, they might even be all the family they have.)

There is some food for thought here.

Partway through the weekend -

We enjoyed heading out to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium last night for the 61st annual Stairway to the Stars, put on by the combined music departments of the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District. Bonny said last year's was better - and if it was, it must have been spectacular, because last night was a wonderful show - 1,000 students, grades 4 through 12, singing in choral groups or playing in orchestras and bands - a performance that would be worthy of the oft-overworked adjective awesome!!

Ella sang in the combined middle school chorus and Ara played flute in the combined middle school band. From the start, with all 1,000 students - and the audience - singing and playing The Star Spangled Banner - the program was off to a rousing start. A few of my faves: the combined middle and high school bands playing Loch Lomond, the combined elementary, middle school and high school choirs singing Down in the River to Pray, the elementary and middle school choir singing selections from Les Miserables, and a pretty exciting high school jazz band. At the start and at the finish, all 1,000 students performed Stairway to the Stars, apparently the inspiration for the whole program, lo these many years. (I loved that they showed the lyrics on the Jumbotron and invited the audience to sing at the end!!)

Interspersed throughout the program were the obligatory tributes, acknowlegedments, awards, and raffle drawings - but they kept everything going at a nice clip. The guest conductor was from the music department at USC, and the award recipient was a former Stairway of the Stars participant who is now working on stage - currently in Jersey Boys in Las Vegas. He gave a great speech about how he wasn't a very good student until things fell into place after 4th grade when he got into the music program the district has always tried to provide!

Apparently there is a bond measure that hopes to save the music program - since it is being decimated by budget cuts from Sacramento - in case you've been living in a vacuum for the past year or two, the education picture in California is pretty grim. Cutting and slashing of jobs and programs is rampant, so there were appeals to the audience to support Measure A for their district - and to encourage neighbors to do the same. It is certainly a program that ought to be saved. When will the world acknowledge that music and the arts might even be more important than math and science!!

We were all hungry, so we went to Norm's after - I love a good "breakfast for dinner" at Norms!! It is so great to hang with the lovely Bolander girls and their mom and dad. After all their hard work, they are now set to enjoy not one, but two weeks of Spring Break!!

Before I hustled out of school on Friday - leaving quite a mess that I won't think about until Tuesday, because we have Monday off for Cesar Chavez Day - we had a shower for my co-worker Sarah, who is going out on maternity leave.

And Robyn and kids are still here - Corey's wedding is today - so Dad remains a popular grandfather figure for Sophie!!

I'm playing catch-up with the laundry right now and definitely need to go to the store for milk and bread anyway - so we won't starve!! There is lots that needs doing - but I may read a book or rent a movie instead!!

I'm looking forward to the day of rest - followed by a day off school!!

School Daze!!

School photos have been taken in MUSD also, but I will spare you the necessity of seeing my school photo - I feel like they get worse every year - kind of like they did in Junior High.

But our own Miss Eve joins her charming cousins in the school photo lineup.

Dad came by and smiled at them - and we both agreed that we have some beautiful granddaughters!!