Christmas Program

I will always treasure the sound of little girls playing piano!

Pool Party 2009

Last week, the girls and their cousins had a POOL PARTY! SO much fun. After 9:00, the lifeguards put on the lights and the kids got to swim after dark.


These boys were clawing for the opportunity to get their pictures taken. For some reason, they thought I was the paparazzi


No Diving - or something like that....

How I became a teacher....

When the girls started going to school, I found myself volunteering at school. I watched the teachers and remembered how, at one time, I was that close to receiving my degree.

To make a long story short, I figured I had my degree until two weeks before graduation. I called the school and ask why I hadn't heard anything about the commencement ceremony. I wasn't graduating.

After enough volunteering at school, I got offered a job at the school as a paraprofessional helping students and teachers within the classroom. One afternoon, they were desperate. One of the teachers was ill and their substitute became ill. They asked me to sub. Because I wasn't a licenced teacher, they opened the partition between the second grade rooms and made the other second grade teacher the official teacher in the room while I taught my lesson, and she taught hers.

At the end of the day, the principal stopped me and told me that she was glad I could help, but this situation would never happen again.

Then she turned to me and said, "You know, you'd better go back. You've got to decide if this is something you want or not."

The next day, I called Shawn Soderberg at MSUM records office and discussed my course of action. I was enrolled at Minnesota State University Moorhead January 2007.

I was on my way.

Dirt and Leaves...

As I've mentioned before, I was a brat growing up. Well, we all were. I remember one neighbor who didn't like us scrambling over their yard. I think I actually threw a crab apple or two into that yard, just to show them. I wonder why they moved? Hmmm?

I used to love climbing trees. Did I mention this? I may have. One of my favorite yards in the neighborhood was the yard with the crab apple tree. My friends and I sat in the crab apple tree for hours until one of us would announce for no particular reason.

"I gotta go."

And run very quickly to their own home.

This yard also had some very tall spruce trees that I climbed. What about sap you ask? I didn't do laundry back then, silly.

One time up on that tree, one of my friends convinced me that I was invisible and no one could hear what I was saying. Just then, I saw my unsuspecting parents in our backyard across the alley. My mom was hanging clothes up on the clothesline. My dad was working up the garden.

She dared me to holler out the S word.

"Sh#t!" I hollered.

"Roberta Louise Guillemette! Get down from that tree now! Your @ss is grass!"

Cringe

I really have to say Heather Armstrong got me reminiscing today as she wrote about "Cringe" today. Uggg... Have you ever taken out past written works... and then, just about died?

I know I can think of a particular person who wrote plays to be acted out by anyone interested to be in her "show."

I can think of a particular person who set up her garage to be a printing press for the" State Avenue News" - really interesting newspaper written by kids and their take on neighborhood gossip. For instance, did you know that the Smiths are having marital problems? Read it up.... we got the goods in "State Avenue News."

I don't have any copies of my writings from my youth. I don't have any writings from my half- hearted journals. I'm somewhat relieved and somewhat sad.

My friend Angie has all of her journals from at least 1986 and all through college. She has all the dirt... If we have any questions, we can just ask her. She can look it up for us. I don't think I want to remember.

However, the good news is that we grow. We no longer see those small things as important. Most of us us are not as emphatic as we were in high school and college. We are not as dramatic as we once were. Really, that's very good news.

Swim Team

Fosston is so lucky to have a swim team. They've been having swim meets every weekend since school has started. I've decided I want to join the swim team.

I long to feel the cool water rush across my face and watch the reflection of my arms underneath the water. I love rhythm of breathing of the freestyle.

When I was in high school, we didn't have a swim team of course. Swimming was the only sport I was good at. I long to be on the Swim Team.

I can see myself lined up with the other girls cheering my team mates on. I can see my not so perfect dive as I get used to the water.

Do you think they'll notice a thirty-four year old chubby mom wearing one of those two piece swimsuits with a skirt?

This is My Town...

http://www.edutopia.org/wetland-ecology-technology

Seventh Grade Orientation - Meet the Students

Thursday Night, we had Open House up at the school. About sixty seventh graders and their parents filled the commons area. Mr. Strom told them all the ins and outs of Fosston High. I listened carefully, I don't even know this stuff.

7th graders came in and greeted their friends. Some had dyed their hair pink over the summer. They were thrilled.

Meanwhile, I took pictures upon pictures for the yearbook. 7th graders started to line up because they thought they needed their pictures taken.

While Mr. Strom talked about their first year at Fosston High, parents worriedly filled out their forms. I could read their minds... They were thinking of their first day of Seventh Grade. They were thinking of getting lost, or being the only one to bring a purse around the school.

A Letter from Petra

A few days ago, I got this letter from Petra. Petra is a lifetime friend who happened to be an exchange student during our lovely "Global Studies" experiment in Red Lake Falls in the nineties. This is her reaction to my 911 Post.
I am totally amazed at how she can be so articulate in English. I wanted to share this because I loved it so much. I love how strong her voice is in her writing. I love that anyone can read this and know Petra. Anyone can know how thoughtful and loving she is. I've left her wording mostly as she put it... Her voice is so strong and lovely.

Hi Bobbi,

I just read your blog (I somehow didn´t notice the link, when I read your
email the first time). It is great, I just love it. And I loved the critical
part as well!

I just will write down what I think (I won´t check my spelling, just write
very fast and I will be quite direct, as it takes to much time to be
friendly all the time. I hope you don´t think, I´m mean European idiot)

Everyone was cuckoo after the planes crashed! But for Europeans it isn´t
something new to have a war next door or even terrorists in their own
country, we had that in the 70s and of course not all of them vanished and
having a war next door, is just normal. So we are safe, but not 100% safe,
but you actually never are. So for us that feeling vulnerable is "normal".
But still everybody was extremely shocked at 9/11, it was just so big and so
horrible. I don´t wan´t to say, that it wasn´t, it was!

But since then so many other bad things happened and from my point of view
some of your politicians just lost it. They are close to start a new war.
And what will happen then? The same that happened the last time. A lot of
people will lose their lives (on both sides, and not just terrorists) More
unhappy people, more extreme media and more fundamentalists (cause extreme
unhappy situations generate more fundamentalists). And less democracy. And
there I´m not only talking about the middle eastern countries, I´m as well
talking about the US. In Germany Hitler gained power without breaking the
law. I´m not thinking something will happen to the U.S., but if you are
living in a constitutional state / free government under the law you should
be proud of it and make it the most important thing at all.
For me as a German, the law that they can search your house, you, you data
and your computer, just because they think you might have connections to
terrorists, is just awful. That's like the Gestapo or the Stasi.
And that people are being kept in Guantanamo without trial, is just bending
the law and making it small and unimportant (again as the Naxis or the
Kommunists). After the trial of Bin Laden's driver, some U.S. official said,
that even if someone is found not guilty, they will still not set him free,
as he might be a danger to the people. And the people were just nodding
their heads. I was just shocked! If they can´t prove anything they have to
set him free. Like that it isn´t right. Principles have to bee as important
as safety. Else we all can live a controlled life in a kind of prison without
anything to lose. What is right, has to stay right. And Personal freedom is
as important as safety. There has to be a way, that both can exist parallel.
And for me it looks like this isn´t the case anymore in the U.S.

When I was little we Europeans were looking up to the US (at least it looked
like that to me), but we don´t anymore. Actually we are proud now , that we
learned our own lesson.

But that's just politics, of course I´m not talking about us as people. :)
And of course there is enough crap going on in Germany as well, so don´t
worry, I won´t loose it. And I hope you still like me, even when I´m a
critical German (that is exactly what we learned, and actually you Americans
taught our grandparents to be critical again).

Take care! Love

Petra

Sally- She's Complicated

Sally and I have been friends since first grade. Sally is a twin. I remember sitting at the little circle tables and being amazed at the two girls who had the same blond hair, same blue eyes, and same freckles.

As we grew up, we spent many a night at each other's house. Sometimes, we would meet half way and then go swimming in town or go back to her house in the country. To tell you the truth, Sally's house was more fun. Sally had eleven brothers and sisters. Her family owned a dairy farm.

On the farm, Sally would take me for rides on her dirt bike. We hit every mud puddle between her house and the river. We'd climb the hay bales and talk philosophy like thirteen year old girls do.

Sally and her brothers and sisters had to work hard on the farm. They'd get up very early and milk cows. They'd either go for their morning jogs or come in and take their showers and go back to bed.

I used to make Sally's brothers and dad chocolate chip cookies. They helped me decide which recipe was better.

In high school, we spent many nights getting ready for Plummer dances. Sometimes Missi drove. Sometimes Sally drove. (I didn't get my driver's license until I was eighteen) Plummer is a town about twelve miles northeast of Red Lake Falls. It has a population of 100. People came from Oklee, Plummer, Red Lake Falls, McIntosh, even Thief River to these dances. For some reason, they had the best dances with the best music. Everyone was on the dance floor for "Fishing in the Dark." We'd rush on the floor for "What is Love?" I remember dancing and laughing until midnight or so.

Later, I met Jason at one of these dances though that's a whole different story.

On the way home, we always talked about our adventures. Which dumb drunk cowboy wanna be danced the worst. Which dumb drunk cowboy licked whose ear. We were sort of snobs in our way.

This summer, Sally came home for a visit. I was honored with a trip to the park with her son, Shawn. Natalie and Allison had a blast cooing over Shawn's deep brown eyes and doing silly things to make him smile. After ummmm....... how many years? Twenty-seven. Twenty-seven years is a long time to have a friend. Even though I don't see Sally every day, I consider her one of my best friends.

Dirt, Leaves, and Other People's Trees

As you may know, I grew up in a small town. In fact, there's a picture of my small town in the upper left hand corner of this blog. As a young girl in a small town, I must tell you I was a brat.

This may surprise most of you that I would say this. After all, I'm such a kind church going lady nowadays. As a young girl, I thought of the entire neighborhood as my playground. This probably has something to do with the fact that I was related to at least three different families within a hundred yards from my front door. Also, the other neighborhood kids were all somehow related. This is why I married out of town. (Though this is not the only reason.)

Back in 1980, we woke to church bells, we ate lunch and supper to church bells, and fell asleep to church bells. We knew when we heard the bells it was time to go home either to eat or get ready for bed.

Our neighborhood was prime for kids. We lived next to the high school, three blocks from the Catholic school (and it's play ground), and one block from Tom's yard. Now, I'm sure you just don't understand the absolute coolness of Tom's yard. Tom had a great wooded path on a hill that led down to the football field and river. Tom also had a great dog named Sally.

Sally was a mutt with dark red curly hair and a big smile. Every morning, we'd wake up and go visit Sally over at Tom's. Tom had a great sense of humor. He didn't mind it if we were in his yard all afternoon playing tin can alley or picking his flowers. I mean think about it, he had fifty football players tramping down his yard every morning and every lunch. This guy was basically a saint. A saint high on pot, but a saint none the less.

I remember knocking his door and visiting him every chance we got. Then, we'd tell him knock knock jokes. How annoying is that? Tom didn't seem to mind. One time he had a knock knock joke for us.

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Madam
Madam who?
Madam foot's caught in the door.

Oh! We laughed at that one. I still laugh when I think of that joke.

My favorite was when Sally would have puppies. They were best. I'd always bring one home and tell mom that Tom wouldn't mind. Mom would make me bring the puppy back home. I can't begin to tell you how many times a puppy peed on me, and I'd just let it air dry.

Another great aspect of Tom's yard was that people used his hill as a dump. I found an old gutted piano and convinced my friends that it was a harp. I'd practice on those rusty strings for hours at a time. Tom had privilege to private concerts. What a lucky guy.