After the prayers were said, the friend who was hosting served lunch. After lunch (and dessert!), we all sat around the table having a wonderful, animated discussion about various topics that included politics, religion, the educational system, etc. The majority of the parents in our group sent their children to private schools and universities, partly for religious education and partly because they thought the public education system wasn't good enough. I'm the only exception, because I sent my daughter to public schools (I took her to Sunday school at the temple for religious education); I think my daughter received a very good education, thanks in part to the various academic programs that were available to her in our public school system and to educators who recognized her academic skills and abilities and pushed me to get her into those programs. So, I'm a staunch advocate for public education.
We sat around talking until 5:30 p.m.! Friend F who hosted the prayer gathering served tea and coffee and it was only after that, that we left! It rained on the drive home, but it was barely drizzling by the time we got home.
After I came home, I changed my bed sheets and made up the bed with fresh sheets. A freshly made bed is a cat magnet:
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| "Mummy made the bed; I must check it to see if it is comfy!" |
I disturbed him when I turned on the light:
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| "Hey, that light bothers my eyes!" |
But, I had to take just one more picture:
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| "Mummy! You are embarrassing me!" |
The quilt is one I made, using English paper piecing, back in 1990, from scraps leftover from my mother's sewing, for the most part. I only bought the yellow fabric for the diamonds, as I wanted one unifying color, for the flowers to stand out. I tied the quilt, instead of quilting.
I washed the sheets that were on the bed and they are now hanging up to dry, overnight, inside the house.
I took out two of the ground beef and zucchini burgers I had cooked and frozen, earlier, to thaw for my dinner. I will have some salad with them.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Being able to attend this month's prayer gathering
- Stimulating conversation, afterwards
- A safe drive to the prayer gathering and back
- The door frames from which I am able to hang the laundry to dry, indoors
- The caring educators who taught my daughter
Sunday's To Do List:
- Put away the laundry from today - DONE
- Attend the monthly prayer gathering - DONE
- Change my bed sheets - DONE
- Do another load of laundry (the bed sheets) - DONE
Monday's To Do List:
- Put away the laundry from tonight
- Post office to mail a letter to my daughter
- Clear some of the desk drawers
- Go through and clear some files
- Dust and vacuum the living room, dining area, and family room
Dancer is so cute! I hate this daylight savings time....Andrea
ReplyDeleteThanks, Andrea. I like having more light in the evenings, but the whole change messes up my already messed up sleep schedule even more!
DeleteThat's so good of Dancer to test that the bed is comfortable ... you don't know how lucky you are!
ReplyDeleteI too am an advocate for state schools (in the UK, public = private fee paying), although I have to admit that if I was younger and had children, I would take the homeschooling route. Did you ever consider that for your daughter?
Yes, I am one lucky lady, aren't I, to have an official "bed tester"! LOL!
DeleteYes, I very briefly considered homeschooling for my daughter; it would have been fairly easy, at least in the early days, because my mother, who lived with us, was a retired teacher. My daughter would have done well with homeschooling, as we would have been able to proceed at her pace (which was fast). But, I decided against it for a number of reasons, including the fact that, being an only child, I felt my daughter needed the day to day interaction with other children. The neighborhood elementary school (kindergarten to grade 5), where I sent her, bent over backwards to accommodate this child, who entered kindergarten reading at grade 2 level and knew the beginnings of multiplication and division, while the other kids were learning the alphabet and to count to 10! :D Eventually, at the urging of her teachers and the principals of her schools, she was tested by the school district and identified as "highly gifted" and placed in a Highly Gifted Magnet program, where the curriculum had to be 2 grade levels higher.
Studies have shown the biggest predictor for school success, public or private, is the involvement of parents. So I imagine that all of the parents at the table were involved with their children and school, so all had success in educating their kids. I, too, sent my kids to public school and their success at any one time depended on the individual teacher. Some were a fit and some weren't.
ReplyDeleteThe Dancer pictures are fun. My cats love laundry, also. They love to be in the middle of clean laundry I'm folding or sleeping in a basket of really stinky laundry (my husband's workout clothes).
Yes, I think we were all quite involved with our children's schooling. I know I was, at least in the early years! I volunteered in her classroom, when she first entered kindergarten, I joined various committees (at least while she was in elementary school), I knew her teachers, and I am still friends with one of her former principals! Once she was in middle school and high school, I wasn't all that involved with school committees, etc., but I knew her teachers, attended all parent-teacher conferences, fund raisers, etc. For the most part, she had excellent teachers. There were one or two teachers whose teaching styles didn't quite match my daughter's learning style, and it was obvious from her grades in those classes! LOL!
DeleteDancer will leave the laundry baskets alone, but, you can count on him to enjoy a freshly made bed!
How very lucky for you that you were able to partake in stimulating conversation. My how I miss that with my Sweetie. As a life partner I was fortunate to share the same values and a lot of the same liberal views as he did. But when we choose our friends, we don't adhere to those same characteristics. I know that a lot of my friends don't hold the same views and I respect that. But I don't go out to rock the boat. I will try to steer the topic away from a viewpoint because I don't want to have a confrontation, even in conversation. I will state that I have a differing opinion, but I don't want to belabour a point. I just want to agree to disagree. I would save my opinions for when I got home and then discuss them with my husband. That's not to say we didn't have differences of opinion, but I felt it was a safe environment. Friendships feel too fragile to me, and I don't know why I feel that way. I just hate confrontation I guess. Anyways, it sounds like you had a most enjoyable time.
ReplyDeleteVery often, I am a silent listener at these conversations, because I rarely feel the need to express my opinion about matters. The one person in this world who needs to know where I stand on certain matters is my daughter and, believe me, she already knows. :D
DeleteBut, yesterday's conversation was fun! It was almost like a stream of consciousness type discussion, going from a discussion of having or not having a "holier than thou" attitude to the lives of some saints to a discussion about loving the work one does and a general discussion of jobs and who do the jobs and why and how education comes into play, etc., with side forays into politics both here and in Sri Lanka and lots of other issues. :D It wasn't a heated debate, or even a serious discussion, but, rather, a way to engage and share our experiences and opinions. Often, there were a couple of discussions going on at the same time, but, then, one person would catch a phrase or sentence from the other discussion and join in. :)
Your cat is adorable
ReplyDeleteThank you! He's a very spoiled member of the household! LOL. Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment. :)
DeleteI like your quilt. I looked up how to tie a quilt, because I didn't know that method. :)
ReplyDeleteI support public schools. I know some people who complain about the quality of public schools, but these same people don't like paying teachers well, or complain about higher taxes to support public schools. If we want to attract the best teachers, we have to pay them well. And make sure that kids know the value of education. I love teaching, but I didn't want to teach K-12 because of disciplinary issues etc.
I really respect K-12 teachers for what they do. I don't have kids, but I don't mind paying my share of taxes to support schools because educating the future generations is a long term investment for the entire society. (ok, I'm getting off my soapbox now...) :)
Thank you, Nil. Tying a quilt is easier and much faster than quilting it!
DeleteYes, you need to have good teachers who are not only dedicated, but are reimbursed well for their efforts, students who like to learn and are engaged, parents who are involved and supportive, and there needs to be ample respect, all around!