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Friday, May 22, 2020

News Trend Teaching My Own: How Heidi And I Solved A Monumental Problem|Actual

Sitting around a back table in our deserted portable classroom, easily an hour after we were due to go home, Heidi and I kept searching for an answer that was not coming easily.

How, we asked ourselves over and over again, can we motivate our high school students to get their work done?

As homeschooling moms and teachers, Heidi and I were already enjoying the luxuries of small group size, students who enjoyed each others' company, and a curriculum tailor-made to suit their interests and study styles.

We'd all known each other, in and out of the classroom, for years. Heck, most of these kids we'd known since they were in diapers.

Or at least light-up sneakers.

But still, there was one particular boy, cheerful and agreeable as the day is long, who just wouldn't push the button on his homework. And before his malaise spread to the rest of the class like the dreaded Spanish flu, Heidi and I were bound and determined to get him in gear.

We spit-balled endlessly, brainstorming all manner of crazy ideas, from making him stay after class to do his homework under our noses, to paying him for complete assignments, to threatening to kick him out of class. But we knew nothing like that would work. We wanted a solution that would:

motivate rather than shame him,

come from his own internal desires,

use the exponential power of peer pressure from his classmates,

come without any nagging or penalties from us.

And in the end, that's just what we found.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1eD_zHEmdjXJFUk-VPVgWFpcHX7OoZlTw

Heidi designed the chart and did the beautiful lettering, I did the painting.

As always, we made a perfect team.

This creation began as a simple chart. Along the left side were the students' names, arranged alphabetically.

Along the tops of the columns, a list of upcoming weeks numbered, "one," "two," "three," and so on.

Each of the squares on the resulting graph was a blank square of white.

Separately, a painting was created to fit exactly into those open spaces. It was painted as a whole, and when it was dry, sliced up into perfect squares to fit into the blank boxes.

The painted tiles of the artwork were numbered for the corresponding week, and tucked into envelopes bearing the appropriate student's name.

Then we waited for the first week's assignment to come due.

As each diligent student presented their work in group, they were awarded their tile which they then attached to the proper box. Slowly, over the next few weeks, an image began to take shape, mosaic-style, in our otherwise blank grid.

Except for our reluctant student. After the first few weeks, his row, which happened not accidentally to run through the middle of the image, was still a set of blank white squares.

His classmates noticed.

And gently, kindly, without even a hint of drama, they suggested to him that it'd be real nice if he got his work done so the image would be properly revealed.

Heidi and I stifled our smiles and said nothing. But our eyes met across the classroom, twinkling with satisfaction.

We'll never know for sure what motivated our student to finally get his work done. All I can say is that by the time we reached Week Ten, each homework assignment had been completed, every single painted square had been properly attached to the right white box, and the final image was perfectly revealed.

* * * * *

This was not the only time that Heidi and I cooked up a successful scheme to gently move our students in the direction we wanted them to go. But this story is one of my favorites because it's such a perfect illustration of how we worked together to solve tough problems:

We stuck to our principles,

leaned in with love,

respected and trusted in our students' innate desire to do the right thing,

and used our own creativity to build truly unique solutions to whatever threatened to get in the way of our students' learning.

* * * * *

I've kept our completed chart for over a decade now, and whenever I see it, I smile to think what a unique, successful, and incredibly fun teaching partnership Heidi and I enjoyed together.

The sweet memories will surely last for a lifetime.

* * * * *

This story comes from a class Heidi and I taught on United States Landmarks. We spent a year discussing the historical, geographic, and cultural implications of one hundred of our nations's most iconic sites and scenes. The Mystery Monument featured in our motivational poster references the Statue of Responsibility, a project in process intended to balance the Statue of Liberty by reminding us that with freedom comes responsibility. The monument is scheduled to open on the west coast in 2025.

* * * * *

For more stories about this Landmarks class, and other social studies courses that Heidi and I designed, try this:

Teaching My Own: High School Social Studies

Thursday, May 21, 2020

News Trend A COVID-19 Update|Actual

 I really hate to be the bearer of bad news but, due to COVID-19, the 2020 Seattle Saint Patrick's Day parade had officially been cancelled. Our redheads are going to be so disappointed.

As of tonight, Washington has been hit with 23 deaths from COVID-19. Of those, 20 were residents of the Kirkland nursing home. Department of Health data reveals that the at-risk population appears to be older people especially those with pre-existing medical conditions such as heart, lung, or kidney disease. Tests reveal that the disease is spreading; new cases in King County (Seattle) tops the state tonight with 116 confirmed cases, and my Snohomish County takes second place with 37.

Gracie absolutely loved the mix-and-mingle at last year's parade pre-funk.

Despite the dire statistics, life goes on:

Schools:

Here in Mukilteo, one high school and two elementary schools have been closed intermittently for cleaning after someone tested positive. To put that in perspective, we have three high schools, four middle schools, and eleven elementary schools. So most kids are getting to school most of the time.

Boeing:

An employee at our neighborhood Boeing wide-body jet plant tested positive for COVOID-19 recently, and is now quarantine and receiving treatment. People who worked closely with that person have been asked to self-quarantine; the affected work spaces and common areas were thoroughly cleaned. Boeing has asked employees who can work from home to do so, and assures employees that they are following all recommended health and paling aman. Otherwise, they are still building planes.

Ferries:

The Mukilteo Ferry keeps plugging away. Authorities have asked passengers to consider staying inside their cars during the crossings, which seems reasonable. That and some extra cleaning, and of course a reminder to stay home if you're sick rounds out the Washington State Ferries' advice.

I wish I had a shot that included all sixteen Irish Setters prancing down the street together. Tails a-wagging  tongues a-lolling, and red coats gleaming in the partly cloudy sun, they were a glorious sight to behold.

Walking Around:

Gracie and I take our daily walks as usual, and we see a fair number of folks out and about - commuters heading home from the bus stops, teenagers wandering here and there, other dog walkers with their beasts. Pedestrian activities around here vary wildly with the daily temperature and amount of water falling from the sky, but for the past few lovely sunshiney March afternoons, I'd say it's business as usual out on the streets.

My Classes:

One of my student's siblings have what appear to be common colds, but just to be sure, we cancelled group today. The parents of my co-op students have prudently decided to cancel their gatherings, which mix and mingle kids from half a dozen different families. I'm good with these healthy precautions. In lieu of face-to-face meetings, I can teach via videos and follow up with phone calls, and we can stay on track indefinitely.

Yes, we are talking about coronavirus quite a bit up here in these parts. But sensibly, most people tertekan the importance of commonsense prevention and not letting the over-hyped media get into our heads.

My little Irish pickle and me.

Here in coronavirus country, we are keeping calm and carrying on.

* * * * *

Read more stories about life with Covid-19 here in suburban Seattle:

Sitting Pretty

Scenes Of An Ordinary Easter

Our First Church

Silver Linings

Hopes And Dreams In The Silverware Drawer

Life Of A (Socially Distant) Math Teacher: Midterms

Keep Life Simple What I'm Doing Lately

Do Dinner

Covid Cleaning

Gracie's And My Daily (Socially Distant) Walks

Life Of A (Socially Distant) Math Teacher

Miracle Of Light

Social Distancing In My Dining Room

Social Distancing In My Kitchen

We're On The Road To Shambala

Sunshine And Disco Balls

Feel Better

Covid-19 Is For Real

A COVID-19 Update

Checking In From Coronavirus Central

News Trend Miracle Of Light |Actual

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1j0RsdG8VWwaZAihwoZ8lhuLlScKrYbrF

Today, I stood up at about five p.m., ready to take my dog for a walk. For the past few weeks, there’s been plenty of light in the sky at this time though if we don’t hustle out the door, we’ll be finishing our outing in the gathering gloom.  “Better hurry up, “ I told myself.

Then I looked. Glorious beams of sunlight played through my living room windows and lit my front hall up with their golden glow.

Behold the magic of Daylight Saving Time. I love this miracle of light.

News Trend Finishing Strong: The Presidents' Pocket Biographies|Actual

"Starting strong is good. Finishing strong is epic." -Robin Sharma

* * * * *

I'm a huge believer in finishing strong. In my book, enthusiastic starts are easy. There's plenty of motivation to be found in the early stages of any commitment, but sooner or later, every enterprise hits a seemingly solid wall of frustration and failure.

And many times, that's where the project dies. But it's no cliche to say that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. The satisfaction to be found in not only finishing what I've started - or even better, finishing stronger than when I started - is to me the sweetest success of all.

* * * * *

Back in the day, I used to make a lot of journals. For decades, I've logged my then-babies' milestones, logged our family road trip adventures, and collected a hodge podge of old-school recipe clippings. As my daughters grew older, they started making journals too. Some were undertaken just for pure artistic fun, others served as custom collections of essays, reports, and projects done for our classes.

About ten years ago, two significant events changed up my journaling mojo.

1. My youngest daughter wrapped up her homeschooling career as well as mine, and there went my best excuse for journaling as a priority in life.

2. I began to present my journalistic endeavors in blog format. Editing photos and typing text trended over glue sticks and cardstock, and the old days gave way to the new.

This double whammy of a  transition probably happened over the course of several years but looking back now, it feels to me like a dramatically abrupt shift. Apparently, I ran out of journaling juju in a snap.

Because this weekend, I ran across my ancient pile of half-done journals.

Yep. Some were barely started, others almost done, but each one had come to its own special place of hitting a wall, and in my frustration, I'd laid it aside and never come back to it.

Until now.

But as I sifted through the pile and looked over my abandoned works in progress, my finisher's instincts kicked in and I made a promise to myself.

I'm finishing up each one of these suckers, no matter what.

So let's consider this Part One of a series, and take a look at my first completed project.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1G49YigjlXSUGTAGanEsjOqEepyT8e4bz

The Presidents' Pocket Biographies.

That aforementioned fourth born once made me a cute blank book for Christmas. The inside pages were simple squares of printer paper but the covers collaged together iimages of some of my favorite U.S. Presidents (yes, I have favorites and yes, my fourth-born knows who they are) and photos of our dearly beloved pets at the time, Ranger, a big red dog, and Padfoot, a sweet black cat.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1rAU6bE7ErzyeDVmv4eiHIRZu0UGgQRbR

Back in the day, I'd decided to write a few notes about each of our nation's presidents - we'd just studied them all in a year-long group, so I had opinions.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1EDN4umRhgkIK56l3VcLdo-asQ_S--8HV

To make the journal a bit more visually interesting - and to strategize around spelling errors or ugly mistakes - I wrote on bits of assorted graph papers designed to fit on a half laman. I went the extra mile of occasionally attaching an extra slip of paper by means of a small metal grommet, creating a flip feature.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1YBbELgcMFdXak2VC2bkklABddP_Oiry4

^ Pretty sure I stopped working on this journal because time had passed and I could no longer effortlessly recall presidential tidbits. And apparently I was too lazy to look them up.

Sadly, I had petered out at President #26, Teddy Roosevelt. Which is a particular shame because he's one of my favorites.

Did you know his wife and his mother died on the same day? He made a big X on the date in his journal and wrote, "The light has gone out of my life." Then this sickly city boy decided to go west and become a cowboy - he needed to mend his broken heart and ended up falling in love with our nation's wilderness and greatly expanding our system of national parks. Bless him.

These facts did not pop fully formed out of my memory. I grabbed the book we had used in class and spent a lovely afternoon re-reading the entries about Teddy as well as  Presidents #27 through 44, and finished this journal with a stimulated mind and a full heart.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1G3brKumJgEq8EKXPG95CFdrq5VPqI3Zi

^ Poor Ranger (bottom right corner of the book cover) got horribly sick when he was two years old. In one of those wretched diseases where the immune system attacks itself, the skin around his eyes and nose turned horribly pink and swollen. Until we found a veterinary dermatologist who knew what to do, his doctors told us we might lose him. Thankfully, Ranger lived a long and happy life, and this terrible season of illness became a distant memory.

As it turned out, there's one page left at the back of my presidents journal. One, I supposed, must be used to record our current commander-in-chief. I may just write a big X, too.

One more empty section remains to record my favorite tidbits about #47 and I look forward to seeing who will take the honor of completing my book.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1dJkLPMBsZZqJOKp_9Epr4J90wEy6XSxm

So while I suppose one could technically argue that my book won't be truly finished until the final halaman is full, I'm calling it good.

That's one journal finished and a whole bunch more to go.

* * * * *

Want to see the other journals I've finished? Check them out here:

The Presidents' Pocket Biographies

My Princess Book

My Stash

Chicago

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

News Trend Feel Better |Actual

"If you are depressed, you are living in the past.

If you are anxious, you are living in the future.

If you are at peace, you are living in the present."

-Lao Tzu

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=18cFMdlDkqnrdYhHChlda3oCYHo9fg5Od

Like pretty much every other human being on the planet, I have had my moments of depression and  anxiety. Those emotions, those challenging and ugly feelings, are part of the human condition.

I am fortunate that they play only a fleeting role in my life, and I rarely struggle with them.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1gUW-lMYNfmBD4JMO8uXfnYmK-6meLC_u

But I know others - people close to me - who live with depression or anxiety as their close and constant companions.

I understand that it is not my job to talk them out of those feelings.

To those who suffer from depression and anxiety, those emotions cast a heavy and very real shadow over their lives.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1CtXjSsqtn2-74kki6K7ioW23K2p03qYT

They can't just

cheer up,

look on the bright side,

think of happier thoughts,

talk about something else besides their pain,

snap out of it.

That's not how mental illness works.

A beautiful song, interlaced with spoken poetry, of brokenness and healing.

Mental illness.

Some might push back against that phrase. It sounds all Shutter Island andOne Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with psychiatric hospitals and stern nurses carrying cups of mysterious pills that must be swallowed and Hurley sitting around the day room with a guy in his bathrobe named Leonard who mutters 4 8 15 16 23 42 under his breath all day long.

Mental illness sounds like a condition of brokenness that is heavy and horrible and hopeless.

But that's not true.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1XmouEQ8KwGZDjVUw4EYl8oGJd0uEq7IB

Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in our emotions, thoughts or behaviors.

Post modern life, in and of itself, is enough to trigger these changes.

And the Covid-19 pandemic has kicked us into a whole new level of change.

So this, I think, is a particularly good time to talk about depression and anxiety, and to show compassion to those who are struggling.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=19GOdxJ9A1DLcAI5i7xt59l5ya2oR9lx_

Besides listening without judgment, I've found that one of the most helpful things I can do for depressed and anxious friends is to normalize their pain.

The way I do that is by telling them, straight up and simple, "You are not alone."

And then I spam my hurting friends with a bunch of memes.

I know. That's rather cruel of me, isn't it.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Xl7WmduSwnaIeRLUo-Ojgvr_5ODcFJ0O

But memes demonstrate quickly and often cleverly that there are other people out there experiencing the same things: suffering the same pain, wondering what is wrong with them, feeling alone.

And what I've noticed is that for people in pain, realizing that they are not the only ones who feel that way, recognizing their connection to other humans, can often be enough to manage the hurt for one more day.

So I offer to you my collection of memes, posts, and a lovely, tender song of healing.

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1ATyZXpf7L3ofkC_eNCi6DS-UD_pW9B-n https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1d6TNvkEu5oYTOdWJFJXbFDOY1NEDrIUv

To be sure, these snippets (and the hundreds of other memes much like them) will not heal mental illness, cure depression, or cast away anxiety. But these kind words of compassion and understanding may just make someone you know feel just a little bit more known, understood, cared for.

And maybe, just maybe, they will feel a little bit better.

* * * * *

Read more stories about life with Covid-19 here in suburban Seattle:

Sitting Pretty

Scenes Of An Ordinary Easter

Our First Church

Silver Linings

Hopes And Dreams In The Silverware Drawer

Life Of A (Socially Distant) Math Teacher: Midterms

Keep Life Simple What I'm Doing Lately

Do Dinner

Covid Cleaning

Gracie's And My Daily (Socially Distant) Walks

Life Of A (Socially Distant) Math Teacher

Miracle Of Light

Social Distancing In My Dining Room

Social Distancing In My Kitchen

We're On The Road To Shambala

Sunshine And Disco Balls

Feel Better

Covid-19 Is For Real

A COVID-19 Update

Checking In From Coronavirus Central

News Trend Covid-19 Is For Real|Actual

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Gj9WPozN0oO2mw1i4o5vDJF5bA4K3bGU

Spring is for real too. It?S showing up a bit early this year

and I do believe that all of Seattle rejoices.

Thirty-six hours ago, I felt darn confident. Sure, the threat of Covid-19 was circling ever closer to my Seattle suburban life. But my hand-washing skills are on par and I'm in good health, so I considered my chances of getting the coronavirus to be low and my odds of survival quite high. My plan was to keep on living my life without interruption.

Tonight, I see things a bit differently.

Yesterday morning, I went to a medical clinic for a routine laser procedure on my eye. (Yes. My eye was literally blasted with lasers and it was wild.) It wasn't till I was standing in line to check in for my appointment that I realized I was in Kirkland, epicenter of our Covid-19 nursing home outbreak, and that the hospital where many of those elderly victims died was right next door.

As I sat in a tiny waiting area - not much more than a half-dozen chairs squeezed into a hallway - I took note of our close quarters. Now granted, no one appeared to be sick. No one coughed during the half hour I sat there. But as my fellow waiters came and went, and countless more people walked up and down the hallway in front of us, I couldn't help but notice that the recommended six-foot personal bubble we're been advised to maintain was an impossibility. And I realized that any one of these people could be carrying the virus - symptom free - and simply by breathing in my air space, could be infecting me.

For that matter, I could be the one who's already infected and passing the disease on to them.

This is a sobering thought.

* * * * *

Today, I talked to several of my math moms, and we all agreed that our community seems to be at a tipping point. A confirmed case of coronavirus has popped up at the church where most of my math families attend, and that strikes very close to home. The advantages of meeting with my students in person simply no longer outweigh the realities of the disease, and I decided that until the epidemic has blown through, I'm moving all of my classes to Youtube, effective immediately.

Two days ago, I would have thought that to be an extremely difficult decision to make.

A week ago, I would have laughed at the very notion.

But today, it felt absolutely right.

* * * * *

Tonight, the circle closed even tighter. I teach several of my math classes to a co-op. What that means, in homeschooling parlance, is that a number of like-minded families meet up so students can work, learn, and play together. Meeting in one family's home, the moms teach most subjects but also hire out some of the more advanced instruction. I handle the load for upper level mathematics and a gentleman named Mr. B teaches high school literature and history.

There've been a few nasty non-Covid viruses running through the class, so I haven't met with these students in person for the last two weeks. And thankfully, neither did Mr. B. Because, although he is as yet unconfirmed, on Saturday he came down with a sore throat and a fever and suspects he has coronavirus.

Was I exposed? Were the students exposed? What about all the grandparents, babies, immune-challenged siblings with whom we've since interacted? What about the secara acak strangers who've wandered into our six-foot bubbles and breathed in the tiny virus particles that we breathed out?

Or was Mr. B exposed to the disease after his last meeting with this group of students, so that he didn't teach them or even come into the house during the days that he was incubating the disease?

We don't know. We'll never know. All we can do is wait and see what happens.

* * * * *

Today, Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced a statewide ban on gatherings and events of 250 people or more, effective now through at least the end of March and indefinitely as needed.  There's been a huge amount of chatter - both live and digital - about social distancing. What epidemiologists tell us is that the best way to break the exponential growth of an epidemic is to stay home as much as possible, to limit the opportunities the virus has to jump silently from one set of lungs to another, to lay quietly in one unsuspecting victim as she accidentally infects another one, two, three or more.

Now let me be clear. I'm not anxious. I'm not fearful. There's been a lot of conversation about how the media is whipping this little disease up into a hellstorm, and besides a handful of sick people in Asia, there really isn't all that much to be concerned about, and if you're worried, you're over-reacting.

Well, I'm here to tell you that Covid-19 is for real, and when it hits, it hits hard.

If your area is not yet in the cross hairs of coronavirus, stop right now and give thanks.

Then stay up to date on our experts' best understanding of how the disease works, and how you can do your part to keep your community as healthy as possible. Because the odds are very good that Covid-19 is coming your way. And you had best be prepared.

As for me, I'll be laying low for a while. Social distancing is my new jam.

* * * * *

Read more stories about life with Covid-19 here in suburban Seattle:

Sitting Pretty

Scenes Of An Ordinary Easter

Our First Church

Silver Linings

Hopes And Dreams In The Silverware Drawer

Life Of A (Socially Distant) Math Teacher: Midterms

Keep Life Simple What I'm Doing Lately

Do Dinner

Covid Cleaning

Gracie's And My Daily (Socially Distant) Walks

Life Of A (Socially Distant) Math Teacher

Miracle Of Light

Social Distancing In My Dining Room

Social Distancing In My Kitchen

We're On The Road To Shambala

Sunshine And Disco Balls

Feel Better

Covid-19 Is For Real

A COVID-19 Update

Checking In From Coronavirus Central

News Trend We're On The Road To Shambala|Actual

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1l6EELt_DnAn5Doz7G9Fg_Zxpnpxc-xVv

Gracie and I walk through this lawn every day. To tell you the truth, in real life, it's lately been a muddy meadow of sodden soil and spring weeds. But this week, I noticed that precious daisies have begun to bloom. Apparently, Gracie noticed too.

Hugo Reyes believes he's been cursed.

Sure, he won the lottery and became a millionaire overnight, but since then, seems like nothing but bad things have come his way.

He bought a house for his mom, and it burned to the ground.

His fried chicken franchise got hit by a flaming meteor.

And his flight back from Australia crashed on an increasingly weird tropical island.

Yeah. That Hugo. Also known as Hurley. The big guy from LOST.

In the episode I watched tonight, Hugo wrestles with this idea of a curse. As he broods, he also finds a decades-old abandoned VW van in the underbrush, hauls out the dead body of one of those Dharma folks, and reckons to take it for a joy ride.

And here is what happens.

* * * * *

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=190LUAe09rP5v53v8JP0kf6pnVwt6ioci

In my enthusiasm for their beauty and miraculous rebirth, I whipped out my phone to take a photo of the flowers. But immediately I discovered that looking down at the flowers through my viewfinder lent me a mostly drab and uninspired vision of the surrounding mud and weeds. Not so cute.

This scene stands on its own two feet as one of the sweetest bits of film I've ever known.

But the power of the unintended and wildly timely metaphor is not lost on me.

Here we are, in the grips of this crazy COVID-19 epidemic, and our sense of normal is careening down a steep slope at least as fast as that Dharma beer buggy.

Our world feels out of control, and unstoppably dangerous.

We'd have to be crazy not to feel at least a little bit afraid.

But there is going to come a moment when we manage to pop our global clutch, start the engine of physical healing and economic recovery, and steer ourselves out of this tailspin.

Hopefully, we will not come quite as close to crashing as Hugo and Charlie do.

And then, when the wild ride ends, the jams are gonna kick in and we are going to find ourselves spinning in happy circles around a grassy meadow, just like Hugo and the guys.

* * * * *

In that pivotal moment when the rusty, decrepit van sputters into life, the music that suddenly erupts from the 8-track player. Is a song called Shambala by Three Dog Night. Not surprisingly, the lyrics are also prophetic and healing.

Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain

On the road to Shambala

Wash away my sorrow, wash away my shame

On the road to Shambala

In Buddhist tradition, Shambala is a mythical kingdom, as much a visionary and spiritual destination as it is a physical or geographic place. It's a place of deep purity and power.

Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind

On the road to Shambala

Everyone is lucky, everyone is so kind

On the road to Shambala

How does your light shine

In the halls of Shambala?

Tell me, how does your light shine

In the halls of Shambala?

* * * * *

https://drive.google.com/uc?export=view&id=1Y7XngGufkx2lf82RX-R6MPcT5rwTYH3l

The trick, I learned, is to bend down low and tilt my camera at an angle, so that the photo captures only the sweet blossoms and fresh green growth. Beauty is not so much what we see as how we choose to look at it.

You may not feel it yet, but I know that all of this is true. We may feel like we are riding the runaway van of a pandemic and our lives are dangerously out of control. But the lovely truth is that we are on the road to Shambala and I truly believe that when we get there, we will know it was worth the trip.

* * * * *

Read more stories about life with Covid-19 here in suburban Seattle:

Sitting Pretty

Scenes Of An Ordinary Easter

Our First Church

Silver Linings

Hopes And Dreams In The Silverware Drawer

Life Of A (Socially Distant) Math Teacher: Midterms

Keep Life Simple What I'm Doing Lately

Do Dinner

Covid Cleaning

Gracie's And My Daily (Socially Distant) Walks

Life Of A (Socially Distant) Math Teacher

Miracle Of Light

Social Distancing In My Dining Room

Social Distancing In My Kitchen

We're On The Road To Shambala

Sunshine And Disco Balls

Feel Better

Covid-19 Is For Real

A COVID-19 Update

Checking In From Coronavirus Central