January 29
Well, that was fun!




Listening to:

Reading: Once Upon A Star Nora Roberts – still haven’t looked at it in days

Weather: 35, sunny

Trivia: Who was Catherine of Aragon?

The first wife of the notorious Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon reigned as queen consort of England from 1509 until 1533. She occupies a prominent place in history, because her marriage to Henry ended up being a key factor in the Reformation in England. The victim of an arranged marriage, Catherine's attachment to the man who would become Henry VIII was arranged by his father, King Henry VII, in the hope of forming a binding alliance with Spain. But the arrangement was with his first son, Arthur, prince of Wales. So Catherine went to England in 1501 from her native Spain and was married in November. Tragically, Arthur died in April 1502. A few months later Henry VII arranged a second marriage for Catherine, this time with his second son Henry, then only 12 years old. Henry succeeded to the throne in April 1509 and in June he married Catherine. The marriage was, overall, fairly successful, although the pro-Spanish sympathies of Catherine brought a few difficulties during the periods of French alliance. Catherine bore Henry six children, only one of whom, a daughter named Mary, survived, a mortality rate not wholly unusual in the sixteenth century. In the end it was Catherine's inability to bear Henry a male heir that was to prove the problem. In 1527 Henry decided that he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, hoping she would give him the heir he sought. To this end he asked the pope for an annulment to his marriage to Catherine. The pope refused. In 1533 Henry married Anne anyway, in a ceremony performed by the archbishop of Canterbury. In 1534 the pope officially declared that the first marriage was valid, infuriating Henry and bringing about his alienation from the Roman Catholic church, an event which led directly to the Protestant reformation of England. As for Catherine, she didn't quit the kingdom, but was closely guarded. During this time she displayed heroic courage and steadfastly refused to sign away her rights and those of her only daughter, Mary. Catherine eventually had her revenge of a sort when Henry died without a male heir, in spite of many attempts. In the end, Catherine's daughter, Mary, succeeded Henry as sovereign ruler of England.

Cool word: interstice (in-TUR-stis) - A space between objects; a crevice or crack.

nomad (NO-mad) - One who roams from place to place, having no real roots or home.

"Having no real room for additional desks, the office temps were forced to exist as nomads, having to do all their work in the interstices between other people's work areas."




It was really tough to get up at six this morning, but the day was very worthwhile.

I moaned and groaned as I started out this morning. It was Saturday, I was SUPPOSED to be able to sleep in! It was cold and it was dark. It was a struggle to get moving.

I managed to fumble around, get dressed and get myself out of the apartment at about the time I’d expected. I got some hi-test French Vanilla and a muffin at Dunkin’ Donuts and made a quick stop at the post office to pick up a package.

The package was from my secret stamper person, and she sent me these very cool acrylic templates that are used for layering paper on cards. Each template is cut in proportion so that the layers are perfect, and there are seven different size templates. These will be fun to play with. She also sent some very thin cork to stamp on and two stippling brushes. These things will keep me inspired for a while.

I have been doing a lot of playing with my stamps lately.



I was freezing waiting for the "T" to come. I had to pick it up outside and it was brutal. My toes were ready to break off. It wasn’t much warmer on the subway itself what with the doors opening and closing. I though it would improve once we got underground, but it didn’t. It took about a half hour to get to the and it was a short walk from the "T" stop to the museum. But I think it might have been the coldest part of the entire day. My eyes were actually tearing up from the wind.

The workshop itself was generally very well done. I really enjoyed the man who spoke about social studies. He’s the editor of a wonderful children’s magazine called "Cobblestone" that is all about history. He had lots of great ideas, handouts and was very enthusiastic and informative. He also gave us a couple of editions of his magazine that are going to be really helpful.

The language arts people were boring. One woman read her own poetry. I still haven’t figured out how this would apply to our classrooms. Afterall, none of her poems have been published. She thought they were great, though.

It was during this part of the morning that I spent most of my time admiring the view. The room we were in was on the third floor of the museum and looked out over the Charles River. There was a wonderful view of one of the bridges that the "T" crosses and behind that was the skyline of Boston. I kept thinking that this must be where they filmed the opening sequence of "Spencer for Hire" or "Ally McBeal". It was really beautiful to look at. The river is encrusted with snow and it has a bluish cast to it, the sky was pale blue, and it was just something that made me feel happy to be looking at.



the next two presentations were dealing with science and math, neither of which I enjoy teaching. The math was kind of cool, though, as we were learning about cubits and they gave us a cubit ruler. That was very interesting. I know very little about cubits, and what I do know is because of an old Bill Cosby routine having to do with God and Moses. (I’m dating myself by saying that!)

The science was ordinary and something I’d actually done a variation of when teaching the phases of the moon. I don’t like science in general, but I do like teaching about space. It fascinates me. We got a CD ROM for classroom use, so that was cool.



The best part of the day was the movie. It is called "The Mysteries of Ancient Egypt" and it is an IMAX movie. I don’t know if IMAX movies are all over the country,(I’ve seen them in New York and San Antonio) but it is a huge domed screen and you sit in seats that are like recliners. Basically the movie is huge and all around you.

Omar Sharif played the grandfather – let me tell you he has aged well, very handsome!- and he was telling the history of Egypt to his granddaughter. There were times that as the film was going down the Nile I felt as if I was getting motion sickness. It is so realistic.

The movie was fascinating, centering a great deal on the story of the discovery of Tut’s tomb, but going even further back. It was really wonderful to watch. I like Egypt and the history of the Pyramids anyway, so this was great to watch. I felt as if I was immersed in the film.

I’m looking forward to taking the kids on the field trip in May, I think they’ll enjoy it.

Now I want to go and see the new Egyptian exhibit that is at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. I feel as if I need to sort of wrap it all into a nice neat package.



I didn’t spend any time in the museum afterwards. I got back on the "T" and went to Chinatown to pick up things for Chinese New Year. That was hard to do as I had no idea what I was getting. But I did find the red money bag envelopes, some candy that comes in a container that looks like a firecracker, some New Year’s cards, a paper dragon and a drum. I also got some fancy chopsticks, we’ll try eating popcorn with them on Friday.

I’m sure there were other things that I could have gotten, but no one was able to be of much help to me, so I picked up what I could.



I got home at about three thirty, which gave me some time to unwind and get changed to go out to dinner. It also gave me time to finish up the cards I had started to make last night.

I tried a new kind of paint called Radiant Pearls and the cards really shimmer with color. These paints are awfully expensive, though, so I need to use them sparingly. I really do like the cards that I did with them.



Dinner was fun. Lots of laughs, and the moose did come out to sing happy birthday. I think Dee was pleased.

So now I’m wiped out. I’m glad I have Sunday to rest, even though I should go to the laundromat.

But it was a fun kind of day.

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