Memorial Day, seaweed, and packing

Happy Memorial Day!!!

Today is the last day I'm in Metlakatla for about 2 1/2 months. I get on the ferry this afternoon to go to Ketchikan and then I fly out tomorrow morning. It'll be fun. Right now, I'm avoiding doing some packing and cleaning. I have the last load of laundry in the dryer right now. I can't believe all the things I still need to get done. I have a few dishes to do, a little bit left to pick up in my living room, the trash to take out, and finish up packing. It's not too bad. I'm also going picking seaweed with a friend of mine this morning. We won't be gone too long. I should still have several hours when I get back from that to finish up things.
The last week was pretty great. The last day with students was Wednesday and Thursday for the teachers. I had most of my work done before Thursday so I helped other teachers pack up most of the day. I still can't believe how fast the school year flew by. One year down....a lot more to go, until retirement that it. But I'm not going to think about that. I'm going to have a great time on my travels.
This summer will be spent road tripping, attending weddings, and other wild and crazy things. (like sleep and cooking). It should be a fun summer. This is the first summer since high school that I haven't been working. What a crazy thought.
I better get back to my to do list. I hope to see many of you soon.

One week left

Here is one view from the top of Yellow Hill.

Just a few more days left of school. The kids are in school till Wednesday and then there is a day of inservice. This past week went by very quickly. It was sea week, so there were a couple of my elementary classes that I didn't see. The 7th grade, and most of the 8th grade, went on a survival trip Thursday and Friday. So my afternoon was pretty easy those two days, I had two students. All week I worked on filing music. All of the band pieces are now in score order and in a spreadsheet. I also figured out what parts I'm missing too. I've also inventoried all the band instruments. I've been trying to put all my purchase requests together too. There is so much to do before school is over. I have a few more organizational things to do at school plus some cleaning at my house. This school year has really flown by, even though at times it felt to have dragged.
Wednesday I hiked up Yellow hill with some friends. It was such a nice day. We took their dogs with us. They ran around. My camera battery died not too long after we got to the top but I still got some great pictures.
Just a week until I get on a plane to go back to Illinois. I'll be back there May 26th till August 10th. I have two weddings to be at and a friend having a baby. It will be a fun summer.

It's all down hill from here

A week and a half is left in the 2008-2009 school year. It's hard to believe that the school year is almost over. Time flies. Thursday night was the spring concert. The 8th grade band played a couple numbers, it wasn't the best they've ever played but it wasn't bad. The high school choir sang 4 pieces and it's probably the best they've sounded even though rehearsing right before the concert was felt like I'd given them all new music. It was a little rough. Then when it was time for the high school band to perform, the trumpet player couldn't find her music. She was sure she'd left it on the stand but I remember seeing her leave with it. Then she checked her locker but it wasn't there. So there were phone calls made to get her music from home. I had about 15-20 minutes to fill while we attempted to locate music. It felt like the longest time in my life. I told about music fest and handed out awards. We, as a group, stood up and sang An Austrian went Yodeling and Baby Shark for the audience. It got the band relaxed and the audience loved it. It was fantastic. When we finally got the missing music problem settled and the band played, it was probably the best they've ever sounded on the pieces. Sadly my video camera ran out of battery right before the band played. We are going to record Monday so that we have an archive of how well they sounded. It's a great group.
Last week I had gone out the road and explored some. I went to a dock that I'd never been to before and wandered around there. I have some great pictures of jelly fish and star fish that I'll have to post, but it will probably have to wait until I have faster internet.
Thursday I went out the road again to that same dock, the tide was going out so I got to pick up a starfish. Megan, one of the people with me who also happens to be in the 8th grade band, put a starfish on her hand to see if it would stick to her. Instead the starfish tried to bite her. It was really funny. Then we (Kathy, Megan, and I) went to Sand dollar beach. It's a hike to get down there and it's all boardwalks. You don't really realize that you are going down hill until you have to walk back uphill. The beach was awesome. I took my shoes off and walked around in the sand, watching for jellyfish because that can't be a pleasant thing to step on. We looked at all the different sea life. I didn't know that sand dollars were kinda purple when they were alive. I also didn't know there were so many different colored sea anemones. I also have a lot of pictures. There were larger starfish, sea stars, several kinds of crab, among everything else. We explored the beach, it was definitely the highlight. I also never realized all the different colored starfish there were. This is probably because I've only ever seen a live starfish at an aquarium. The beach was worth the hike. When I come back at the end of the summer, it'll be one of the places I'll have to go again.
I'm going to go enjoy my Saturday. I have to get ready to go to someones house. I'm watching 3 of her kids this weekend. It should be fun.