I didn't sleep well last night. I woke up at 3 am and only dozed on and off after that. I was dozing when the alarm went off. It's getting dark early these days; I don't like to get out of bed. I did, though. I value Bikram too much to pass it up.
I was going to do some gardening when I got home, but since I had to be at school at 11:30 now because of a switch in the school schedule, I don't have much time to do anything else but shower and go. But I did rush to throw the trash into the bin. I was confused when I saw it was still sitting in its usual spot instead of at the curb for pickup.
I started with Mrs. B.'s class at 11:30 am. K came out first. I had her read in the third-grade textbook. She still makes some mistakes, but this is her instructional level. She can read it now. It is wonderful watching her work on decoding unfamiliar words. We did some work on decoding multi-syllable words. All she has to do now is let others see what she can do even if she can't do it 'perfectly.' She had a big smile on her face when she realized how well she was doing.
After that, I worked with D. I have been having him say the letters and listen to the Quiet Queen audio file. I put him in the third-grade textbook, too. With K, I selected a story from the middle of the book. With D, I used the first story. Nonetheless, he was reading in the third-grade text. He did a fantastic job, better than either one of us expected. He patiently decoded words, and I gave him instructions on decoding the multi-syllable ones. He gave me a big hug.
Then, I switched to Mrs. D's class. I started with B. He had a level G book on his desk. I pulled out a J-level book and then a K. He read the J easily. K is his instructional level. Again, we worked on decoding longer words.
Mrs. B. said they had just gotten a call, and there would be an earthquake drill followed by a fire drill in 15 minutes. I packed up and left.
When I got home, I called one of my old Princeton friends. Mike and I did something with the Zimmermans every weekend for years when we were all living in the same town. Then they moved to Havre de Grace in Maryland, and Mike and I moved to Columbus, Ohio. When I go to the East Coast for Thanksgiving, there will be one meal on Wednesday at my sister's house with Jean and John, Damon, Cylin and August, and Dorothy's family: her son David, her daughter, Karin, with David her husband and Sam her absolutely delicious to-be 8-month-old son. Karin and her family will go to Karin's in-laws in Connecticut for Thanksgiving Day. I will take a train down to Havre de Grace on Thursday to have Thanksgiving with Carol and John, as Mike and I have done for the past several years. So far, each year, either Mike or I have gotten sick every time we visited. I guess I have to carry the tradition by myself from now on.
Richie stopped by for a consultation. He did construction for Judy and Paulette, who highly recommended him. He has been working on houses, including building his own, since he was 15. I am going to hire him to do some of the acoustic insulation around the house.
Richie is a Brooklyn boy in the deepest sense of the word. He is a character. He was wearing a shirt, saying, "I'm not yelling. I'm Italian." Yes, Richie does have a very loud voice, and yes, he loves to talk. He told me how he insulated sound studios when he was younger; he was in a rock and roll band. He loaded me with information about his life and what I could do. If he works on the ceiling, he will be working down in Yvette's space. Judy was concerned that Yvette would not be able to tolerate Richie's loud voice. I surreptitiously videoed him. When I showed it to Yvette, she smiled. All is good as long as he's not working when Josh is home. He adheres to a strict schedule: 7:30 am to 4 pm. Judy and Paulette assured me he does good work and is fastidiously neat and clean.
Kathrin and Mike came to pick up the food she had left here. It was good to see both of them. She gave me a big hug before she left. She told me that she and Mike would have to find a different place to live. Mike was a long-term house sitter for this couple that travels a lot. They didn't want Kathrin residing in their house. Reasonable, but not very convenient for the kids.
After they left, I watched TV but did no work in the library.
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Musings:
Take a look at the quote below. It is from Fergus Kerr's "A Very Short Introduction: Thomas Aquinas, p. 81. It looks like our Tommy Boy was a predecessor to Marx. Now, in all fairness, Thomas was not an earthly utopian. He also wasn't so naïve to think that putting power into the hands of the lowly would make for a fair society of any sort. Those in power are always in danger of being corrupted. Remember, Christ turned his back on power, knowing it was the devil's temptation. Aquinas was committed to a basic fair distribution of wealth. He believed some people were the best caretakers of wealth. They were good people who would consider the welfare of all. Sadly, both men were naïve.
"Distributive justice (ST 2/2.61.1) is concerned with apportioning proportionately to each person their share from the common stock-thus tasks, benefits, penalties, etc. It includes the proper and equitable distribution of the wealth of the community. For Aquinas, private property is a reasonable way of caring for things so long as those things are used in accordance with the common good. Nothing should ever be so privately owned that the common good cannot direct its use. Consistent with a long tradition of Christian and Jewish values, what Thomas describes is not widely practiced or even accepted and understood in neoliberal capitalism." Kerr, Fergus, Thomas Aquinas, A Very Short Introduction,.p.81
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