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Saturday, December 29, 2012

DC Pics and a Murphy Story

Another post on the same day....I am trying to keep the posts separate so they all don't get mixed in together.  I hope everyone had fun on our overnight field trip to DC, and that you will have wonderful memories of the trip for years to come!  I didn't do so well in taking photos on this trip as I was busy with various aspects of the trip, plus we were all scattered in so many directions.  I did manage to go to the Library of Congress this year.  I've never been.  It was fantastic!

Don't forget that your journals are due on January 11th!  Do a good job on them because it will be a memento that you will want to look back upon as you grow up.  Below are some shots from the Library of Congress interior.  The ceiling itself was amazing!






This is a four story tower of books on Abraham Lincoln in the building across from Ford's Theatre.  It is an excellent museum, one I will recommend to my students next year.  The books are replicas, not real books.  They are made from aluminum because real books would be too heavy for the tower to be stable.
 The next photos are from a French bakery.  I took these for my French class to see some actual cheeses imported from France.  I found this bakery right around the corner from the hotel.  I took these on the morning of the trip to the Pentagon.

A cafĂ© au lait and a pistachio pastry.  The mug is actually a bowl.  The French often drink coffee from a large bowl.  It is a great way to savor French culture without being in France!
The photos below are all different cheeses from France.  The fromager (cheese maker) showed us these imported cheeses and brought them out for me to photograph.






My only photo of a student on this trip!  I saw Vaughn walking with an Obama hat on, and I was totally shocked.  As those of you who are in my second block odd class know, he was an ardent Romney supporter so you can imagine my shock at seeing him wearing this hat!

I took this photo in the American History Museum.  I thought the words were a great advertisement for the museum

 And finally, a bit of personal news....

My holiday certainly has not gone as expected.  We were going to drive up to Boston to see my sister on the day after Christmas.  My mom was there too, so it was going to be a family reunion. 

Well, we never went!  All thanks to my "wonder" dog Murphy....
Though it changed my plans, I still love him!

My dog hates riding in the car.  Hates It.  So I went to the vet on the day after our trip and got him some medicine to stop him from vomiting in the car.  On the morning of our journey, I gave him the medicine, followed all the directions.  We left home around 6:30 for the 10-hour drive up to Boston.  We no sooner had gone a mile or so when Murphy began to pant and get nervous...then he began to poop in the car....yes.  So I pulled over into the Lowe's parking lot, we cleaned it all up, and I drove home to get a bunch of towels.  It had now begun to rain.  Once everything was cleaned up, we started out again.  This time we got to the intersection of the Powhite Parkway and Midlothian Turnpike and he began to throw up.  I guess the medicine didn't work!  We made the decision to drive home, call the vet, and get some anxiety medication for him as well.  We did all of that, and finally got on the road at 11:00.  We got up to Ashland and got in a bit of a traffic jam on I-95.  I decided to turn around as it was already noon, and the weather forecast for Connecticut and Massachusetts called for snow and ice, and I knew I would be too tired to drive.

When I got home, I called my sister to let her know that we'd start out on the next day and I found out my niece, her oldest daughter, was sick with mono, and had to go to the hospital.  (she ended up being in the hospital for three days)  So, with that piece of news I decided to abort the Christmas vacation mission, and stay home instead.  I miss my sister and her family, but sometimes things just don't work out.

I hope your vacation has been great, and no kinks have spoiled your plans on having fun.

I'll see you next week.

Mr. McEwen

Holiday Bazaar Pics!

Students,

Here are the promised pics from our Holiday Bazaar.  Mrs. Cook and I counted the money on Tuesday afternoon (Dec. 20) and we raised over $1500.  We broke our record from last year!  Hopefully your picture is one of the ones below.  In the chaos of the bazaar, Mrs. Cook and I tried to take as many as we could.  Some of them unfortunately came out blurry and I didn't include those.





































I got the game board, but didn't get the creators!  Sorry!


We will reflect next week on how the bazaar actually went.  Would you have changed anything about your business plan?  Any advice for next year's students?

Sunday, December 9, 2012

ASE 7 Impressionism Art

In our ASE class, we are studying the impressionist era of art in France.  We are currently working on some masterpieces which are either an inspiration or a new version of a famous painting.  Stay tuned for photos from our art show.




A Work in Progress.....