I’m directing a couple middle school handbell choirs at my new school. One is a beginner group, and one is a more experienced group. There are a LOT of handbell sets, and we really make good use of them. There is a lot of music, too. I went through about a third of it the other day, and found a few pieces that I could use.

The music is stored in a little closet space just off the chancel in the sanctuary. It was fun to see a space I hadn’t been to. There are still a lot of them on the church and school campus. One of these days when I have more time I should go exploring.

The bells in the picture are GIANT. They are F3 and F#3.

I heard a really weird bird noise the other day at school and was looking quizzically at the sky, when a co-worker said they were parrots that had escaped or been released by pet owners and had gone native. My internet searching says they’re a kind of parakeet.

I’ve heard them a couple of times since then, and have tried to get a picture. Yesterday at recess, I finally succeeded:

It was quite a flock of them. By my count, there are almost fifty birds in the picture above.

When I need to address a pervasive problem at school, I write a slide show and present it to the class that needs to hear the message. The seventeen slide shows include such topics as: Why We Don’t Use Bad Language, Why Being in Middle School Is Hard, How to Time Your Bathroom and Water Breaks, and The Answer to ‘When Are We Ever Going to Use This?’.

As of yesterday, I now have eighteen slide shows, because I had to write a new one:

The seventh graders were being rowdy, and Thursday was a bad day. I didn’t have them in class on Friday, so I talked about it with them yesterday. A teacher aide was in the room to help them be quiet when I started. By the time I ended, they were quiet on their own. It was so nice. They really are good kids, they just needed some help knowing what I wanted from them.

Of course, when I have them in class again tomorrow, they may have forgotten it all, but baby steps are good. Baby steps….

On my way back home from grading, I saw the cloud wave again.

I don’t know if this is a short-term meteorological situation, or if this is just what happens every night in the fall. This cloud bank rolls in, it blocks the sun, and it gets cool. Warm during the day, cool at night. I like it.

Today is a sad, sad Day of Grading, so I made sure to have lots of fun yesterday.

I started at my favorite diner for a delicious breakfast:

Then I went to the mall to walk around a little. I accidentally walked past the Swarovski store, and accidentally bought this year’s Christmas ornament. (Heh. Just kidding. Neither one of those things was an accident.) It’s more snowflake-y than star-y this year.

Then I went to my favorite garden center. The magnolia tree by their door was blooming. I stopped to smell it. Mmm…

By then it was time for dinner. I went to In-N-Out for a burger. These fast food restaurants are always mobbed. It’s pretty good, but I think more than just being good, it’s a cultural thing here in California. I liked the burger, but didn’t really like the fries.