can you peel a tuna? absolutely...and you can have mango on a stick

today was another day in avid paradise...(joke. ing.) it did go smoothly though. i sometimes tend to be cautiously skeptical about new ideas, unless they seem practical to me and i feel that i can implement them without too high a degree of difficulty. today certain pieces of the puzzle began to come together and make a lot of sense. in fact, i wish i'd learned a lot of this stuff that we're learning to teach before i got to high school. basically learning how to take notes and be organized-

we went out for lunch and had delicious hamburgers at...hunkys? anyhoo-it was really good and i am still full! then we stopped at a little fruit store where i got to finally see and try a tuna-not the kind of tuna you might be thinking either. it's a fruit from a cactus. one of my students once wrote a story about going hiking with her family in mexico and seeing a red tuna on a cactus and eating it...i was incredibly confused and i had to get clarification from her and even after she told me what it was, i still thought she must be mistaken about the name. i should've gotten a picture of them, but instead, i got this pic of the carved mango.

eventually we finished our segment and left for the afternoon-dart rail, here i come again! almost uneventful ride home..until we got to love field. then there were stops at almost every light. the lady conductor came on the intercom and let us know that the inconvenience  was due to the storm last night...something about something getting struck by lightning (?) she had a thick accent, so we weren't sure what she was talking about, but she felt the need to come on at almost every stop to thank us for understanding (but we really didn't understand). and about that time, a young man began to make his way toward the front and had a goofy grin on his face. i'm pretty sure from his actions and demeanor that he had some sort of learning disability. but after he made his way up front to look out and see what was going on, he sat diagonally behind me next to a gal 1 seat back, so i was privy to the entire conversation. it was really cute. the guy had no inhibitions. first he asked the girl if the seat was taken (she was the typical rider who was enjoying a little space now that the train was thinning out and she was engrossed in her book). after taking the seat, he proceeded to ask what she was reading, she answered and continued reading,and he didn't pick up on some of the nonverbal cues, so he then told her his name was eric and asked her name. he let her know that he was 21, and then he told her she was beautiful. how precious is that? unfortunately this is where i had to get off for my stop because i would've enjoyed hearing more.

when i got to my car, i was reminded of an old depeche mode song-see if you can guess which one:

hint-that's the window of my car, and that is a fly-type insect

if you guessed 'flies on the windscreen,' YOU ARE CORRECT! pat yourself on the back, but don't throw out your shoulder! you cannot see it from this view, but about an inch to the right, there was another tiny gnat-like insect dead by the fly..hot day. so i just pretended they were resting and once my car got up to speed, the 'flew' away of their own accord.

and when i finally got home, chaco was so ready to play, so i let him out of his kennel and threw his squeaky toy, which got caught in the kennel after a few throws, and he was a little distressed about the whole situation.

can't you just hear the gears working in his head as he tries to figure out how to remedy this situation?

chaco is currently in the other room just squeaking his toy. over...and over...and over. strategic extraction may be in order.

blessings,
julie