Show something I love or I’m proud of for this 43Show and Tell

completely me. When I first started, it was a bombardment of ideas and a few saying “be like me” and I got a little lost there. Now happily I’ve found my way and even though there are some bad days, the majority now are good or great. As I get to know my students each year, and try to show them some of what is out there through my teaching, I feel like I am bringing some knowledge to them and they to me sometimes. I like the ebb and flow of it.

This picture is of my reading area in class, that another teacher started the mural and I changed some of it more to my taste. We have a 30 minute block of reading at the end of the day and this is one place in my classroom that gets a ton of use!

Yes technically she is my parents cat now as they are home more and she lives with them. She’s 11 and I got her during my 8th grade year at Christmas. That’s how she was named Christiebelle, as I thought of her as a “Christmas Belle.” When I was in high school and college, she was a friend. She listened to my stories and never interrupted with questions. She always seemed to know when I needed a pick-me-up as she’d come rubbing by my ankles. Christi likes to plop down in the middle of the path to wherever someone is walking alot usually. She’ll stretch on her back and show her belly to all. At 2am or later she’ll often race around our house as if we’d given her some fresh catnip, which we haven’t.

Anytime I’ve been low, I pick her up and hold her. Sometimes not for long as she’s not always content to be there but more often she is now. I love to pet her soft fur and feel her purr. She makes me smile when she lets me kiss her on the nose after petting her or to nuzzle her soft fur. It takes me back to a time when I didn’t have all the responsibilities I have now and when life was simpler. Christi helped me through the loss of my Grandpa Russ, Grandma Margaret and Grandpa Don. She didn’t mind my tears or act like I had the plague. At different times she’ll “talk” or rather meow almost like she’s having a conversation and I tend to “talk” yes, meow, back. It terrifies me sometimes to love something so much because I know she’s getting older and there’s no guarantee how long she’ll live. I know that her death will devastate me and I hope that is a very very long way off.

She is and still is my first love and first indoor pet that I was allowed to keep. Yes, I’d tried various times when I was younger to get a kitten, and hid them in my dresser, closet, bedroom, and washer machine. Have no fear, none were harmed and all escaped quickly. Christiebelle will and is my heart even when I’m far away.

This picture is of Christiebelle looking up at the camera after a session of being sprawled on her back showing her belly to all.

in Maine. We got to visit with family there for the first time in 6 years and see how things had changed. We stayed as we had in past summers at the Devereux homestead which has been in the family for hundreds of years. It brought back memories of my grandparents together, of family graveyards, of rolling down the hill and spending time with my best friend when we were younger. It was good to pick blueberries, see the barn and the wrought-iron shop where my grandpa had worked when he was alive. Seeing the squall, sea glass and the Chocolate Church, Deer Isle, Brooksville, Castine and Penobscot was great. Getting to visit with the family there was even better. It’s great that both sides of our family have always seemed to love the water and have boats. Now as I’m older some things are different but it’s nice how somethings don’t change. I’m proud of this and I love this part of my memories and of my family.

This picture is of the area around Devereux Marine. My Aunt Andie had taken us out on a little boat and we had a impromptu picnic. It was a lovely time and the sky seemed to agree with us.