Monthly Archives: March 2024

Quirky Roadside Attraction: SOL24 Day 23

The drive to and from Palm Springs from San Diego is not a particularly pleasant one. One thing you can always count on is traffic–especially through the Riverside area. It is one of the reasons we decided to extend the trip and not drive home on Friday evening.

So today we spent the day in Joshua Tree National Park (more on that tomorrow) and got lucky enough to escape most of the weather (high winds and rain) forecasted for Palm Springs today midday.

Anticipating a not-so-fun drive home today, we decided that we HAD to stop at the quirky roadside attraction not far from Palm Springs–the Cabazon Dinosaurs. We have visited the attraction before, but who wouldn’t want to stop and take photos of a 150 foot long hot pink apatosaurus (formerly known as brontosaurus) and a 65 foot tall T-Rex dressed in a tux?

We’ve learned through the grapevine (and now through personal experience) that the dinosaurs are palnted differently during different seasons. The last time we saw the dinosaurs T-Rex was wearing a bunny suit (in anticipation of Easter, I think) and our son reported them decked out in Christmas colors when they visited Palm Springs in December.

We had relished the 85 degree days during my conference in Palm Springs and enjoyed the day in the mid-60s and sunny up in the high desert of Joshua Tree. As we drove back down from 5000 feet toward sea level we noticed the clouds gathered in a huge pile over the mountains that surround Palm Springs and water splatters began to hit the car window. Suddenly the winds increased and the rain poured as we turned off onto the 10 freeway.

Should we stop to the see the dinos in the pouring rain?

We decided we’d at least pull off the freeway and take a look. Maybe the rain would stop in a couple of minutes.

Instead of being pelted by rain, we were treated to a rainbow. Definitely made that drive home a little bit better! Moral of the story: make time for silly fun–the rewards will be many!

What quirky roadside attractions have you visited? Any that you would recommend to others?

12345: SOL24 Day 22

When in Palm Springs: SOL24 Day 21

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Hollywood icon

looming larger than life, still

seeking perfect light

Rich Lens of Attention: SOL24 Day 20

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I love to take photos–and I take and post photos daily and have more more than 12 years. Some days and weeks I find myself in the doldrums where it seems like I have taken that same photo again and again. Sometimes the photo I see with my eyes just doesn’t come out of my camera no matter how hard I try.

What I love about photography is that it forces me to slow down and pay attention to the moment. I find myself paying attention to shadows, textures, colors, the interplay of light and dark…and then I notice sounds and smells and find myself wanting to run my fingers over a surface that looks bumpy or smooth or somehow different that I expect.

I came across this Mary Oliver poem the other day while scrolling my Instagram…and kept returning to it until finally I just took a screen shot so I could reread it over and over and over again.

In some ways this poem expresses how I feel about taking photos. Through my camera my aim is to be that rich lens of attention that allows me to take in the world, learning along the way. Breathing in and breathing out, slowing down, taking time, and looking with all my senses as I capture an aspect of my experience with a click of the shutter.

Welcome Spring! SOL24 Day 19

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If you want to know when it’s spring, don’t bother with a calendar, just walk into my first grade classroom. The energy is palpable. Those babies that entered the classroom at the end of last summer are growing into knowledgeable and sassy almost second graders. They are readers and writers and fact collectors extraordinaire (although fact-checking is not yet in their realm of expertise). So what do you do at the end of conference week when it feels like the classroom is fitting like last year’s t-shirt–way too tight? Head out to the garden…with iPads in hand!

We’d been out in the garden with our notebooks earlier in the week–observing carefully in the spirit of Jane Goodall. So on Friday I asked students to go back to the place where they observed earlier in the week and find three photos to take. I reminded them of the photography techniques we had learned and set them loose to explore. There was the insect on the screen that first caught students’ attention. The lizard almost created a need for crowd control as these little paparazzi swarmed the cold-blooded sunbathers against the brick wall. They photographed strawberries, broccoli, fruit tree flowers, aloe, and who knows what else.

Yesterday, we studied the poem, Things to do if you are Rain by Elaine Magliaro. We noticed her action words (polka-dot sidewalks, freckle windowpanes…) and did not miss the metaphor of the rain tap dancing on the rooftop. After choosing one of their photos as the subject, they set off to write their own Things to do… poems. And since it’s mid March, I asked them to include three things in their poems: action, a comparison, and some metaphorical thinking.

We ran out of time…which I should say was intentional planning on my part. It wasn’t, but I am reminded of the value of time away from a draft if you want the young writer to really take another look and make the piece better. Using my poem as an example, we read it carefully, looking for the action, the comparison, and the metaphorical thinking. Then they went back to their drafts to finish them and to make them better. And they did.

O took one of those infamous lizard photos and wrote a short but sweet piece.

Things to do if you are a Lizard

Climb up walls like a snake.

Climb up on a sun on a bright green stem.

Run fast, fast, fast, fast!

Grow back your tail.

G found a flower in one of the garden beds, stretching a bit further with her words.

Things to do if you are a Flower

Reach for the sun

get picked into a bouquet

Blossom in spring

Be in a wedding and shine like the sun

Enjoy your life

Share life and health and happiness

Shine like the bright yellow sun

Tap dance in the breeze like a bird’s chirp is music

Send invitations to animals far and wide

to pollinate and see you bloom into

the prettiest flower

F is one of those quick-to-get-done students and thought he had finished yesterday. Today’s mini lesson was the perfect nudge to get him to push himself a bit further–although there’s still some room for growth.

Things to do if you are a Strawberry

Be red and shiny.

Let yourself grow!

Don’t let bugs eat you!

Have a big family that lives on a big bush.

Your petals help you grow and get washed by the rain.

The strawberries are like red poinsettia flowers.

Red strawberries shine like rubies.

Red roses are like ripe strawberries.

And of course, I had to get in on the fun!

Things to do if you are a Yellow Broccoli Flower

Shoot towards the bright blue sky

Soak up the sun in your bright yellow flowers

Sway in the breeze like you’re dancing the tango

Send invitations to the pollinators: Party at Broccoli’s house–all are welcome

Shed your petals and become part of a child’s healthy dinner

As I finish this post, the spring equinox announces that spring has sprung. Welcome Spring! (Although the first graders have been feeling your presence all month!)

What’s Your Object? SOL24 Day 18

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Writing everyday means looking for an idea for writing every day. I get a number of email newsletters about assorted topics that pique my interest. Today, it was the Art of Noticing newsletter that I was drawn to as I read the subject line, Objects Quarterly. To be honest I haven’t really read through it yet, just skimmed over the topics such as A History of Women in 101 Objects (which is book that I have not read). But as I skimmed that I started thinking about the role of objects in a teacher’s life.

I’m one of those teachers who still uses a traditional paper plan book. You know, the ones with plain brown or blue covers that has each week laid out with the spiral binding in the middle. For many years my plan books were just that, plain, unassuming…sometimes I wrote the year across the front (often once the year was over). Then at some point, my teaching partner and I started to put a sticker on each year that included the year, our names, and an image that indicated the overarching theme of our year. But recently, I started putting stickers on my plan book. Not just one here or there, but wall to wall stickers both front and back.

Where do I get these stickers, you might ask? And what significance do they have? Those are great questions. Some of the stickers are USvsHate stickers, student messaging about equity and inclusion. I’ve received them as a teacher who has submitted student messaging to the USvsHate contest. I’ve even had students whose messaging was selected as winning. And my son–the one who is an artist–designs and produces stickers as “swag” that he sends out with products he ships (he also sends his mom some stickers–and those are featured prominently). Now, I collect stickers from wherever I can. Sometimes the stickers are promotional, like the ones I got from the Rainbow sandals store. Some are from environmental organizations… The list goes on.

I love these stickers on my plan book. When I open it each morning my eyes skim over the images and it makes me smile. When my student gave me (and all her classmates) stickers last week, I carefully found a place for them on my plan book. One of my students noticed the plan book cover and said–hey, where did you get that sticker book? And so I had to show off the covers. (They never see the cover since I keep it opened to the week on a table most days.)

There was a time when my plan book mostly stayed at school, but since the pandemic I find myself taking it back and forth with me from school to home each day. Honestly, it is more of a security blanket since there are many days when I change almost everything that is written in it. But maybe that is what objects are all about–symbols of thinking and planning and preparation with my stickers reminding me of the value of creativity, social justice, nature, and whimsy.

If you were to write about an object in your professional life, what would it be? What is its significance? How do you personalize it?

6 Word Photoessay: SOL24 Day 17

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On this day that celebrates all things green, my backyard beckoned. I headed out with my camera, zoomed in close, taking delight in evidence of spring as the days lengthen and temperatures warm.

Nature’s mathematical miracles spiraling toward spring

Slow Start Saturday: SOL24 Day 16

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After a week of parent-teacher conferences and too many meetings (you can get a feel for it here), I was ready for a low-key weekend. I started my morning by sleeping in. There is simply nothing like waking up, realizing I don’t need to get up, and then turning over, snuggling back under the covers and sleeping for another hour.

Staying in my PJs, I headed downstairs where my husband made a delicious french toast breakfast that we enjoyed together while we chatted over coffee and made a plan for the day. After reading a few chapters of my I-don’t-have-to-think-too-hard escapist crime novel, I made my way back up the stairs to shower and dress.

First on our list of things to do today was a low-tide walk on the beach. Even with our somewhat slow motion pace, we made it to the beach with plenty of beach for walking. It was sunny, not too chilly (moving into the low 60’s), with just a slight sea breeze. The blues were hypnotic. The combination of sea and sky are the perfect antidote to work overload.

We decided after our walk to head over to another local beach to check on the status of the sand restoration project there. (More about our local sand restoration projects here.) We had seen the giant boat heading to the river mouth to load up on sand when we were walking.

Moonlight beach (my favorite walking beach when it is not covered in mounds of rocks–hence the sand restoration project) is a popular spot–both for locals and tourists. It sports a good sized parking lot with free parking, somewhat nice bathrooms (as beaches go), a playground, beach volleyball courts, and more. I had heard that things were a mess in the area–and sure enough, our usual access route was redirected to a detour as a section of the road was closed. We made our way through the detour and found a parking place in a nearby neighborhood and headed to the beach.

We chuckled as we watched a gaggle of teenaged girls tucked in a corner between a closed lifeguard tower and a construction fence laying shoulder to shoulder sunbathing to the “music” of heavy construction equipment. A family had established an area for a birthday party tucked up next to green construction fencing blocking all view of the beach. Apparently, construction or not, the beach is a desirable destination!

We watched large equipment crawl over mounds of sand, push piles of rocks, reestablishing a sandy beach. I’m looking forward to the beach that will be in a few weeks time.

After running a few errands, we headed home. To be honest, my motivation has not yet returned. All I really want to do is to pick up that escapist crime novel and lose myself in a story… Which is my plan once I post today’s slice. I’m hopeful that tomorrow will bring a bit more energy and inspiration.

Dandelion Facts: SOL24 Day 15

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Dandelion Facts

My husband and I disagree about dandelions and their value in the world. I am forever photographing them in all their beautiful phases while he is determined to chase them from the lawn using whatever means possible.

I collect picture books about dandelions. Carmela Full of Wishes by Matt de la Pena is one of my favorites. And when I see dandelions in full fluff, I think of them as wishes waiting to come true.

So yesterday while scrolling my Instagram I came across this post on an account I follow. I promptly took a screenshot and texted it my husband who was sitting right next to me in our living room.

His reply: I want to know more about out how they fertilize grass.

But I’m thinking that the lawn that is looking so good right now is not just the result of his dedicated attention and the rain that is providing ample water to grass that has in the past lived a thirsty life. Those dandelions that I love and he chases must be playing some role in this lawn improvement! And he did say just today that if he mows them over, so be it. But if the lawn mower misses them, then they can just add a bit of sunshine to the lawn!

And in a pinch, they might just provide lunch!