Some things that I like.

Kids that come through for you and do what they are supposed to do. I'll have 26 of 27 who made it through the second audition for all-state chorus. They did the work mostly on their own, though we made ourselves available to help. One was totally unprepared and I've checked on him several times to have him tell me he was doing fine on it. Twenty six spectacular musical soldiers.

I love hot showers. Aren't they the best on a cold morning. I like flowers of most kinds. I bought five primroses the other day in five different colors. I've heard of primroses, but had no idea what they actually were. They look to be kin to african violets, so they are probably no relation. Any how, I repotted them in bigger pots and they are thriving this week in hot pink, white, burgundy, YELLOW, and violet.

We love our new home. The sun room, which we call the beach house with its ten-foot, A line ceiling and paladium window, ceramic tile floor and peppermint couch and chairs and the boston rocker, the walls covered with ships and beach pictures, and its antique phone, is a great hangout. I love the crazy wurlitzer clock with the neon light in it that was my Christmas present. I don't spend a lot of time in the foyer, but it is beautiful too. Two stories high, twelve feet wide and 35 feet deep. Now that's a foyer. It's not quite round or we could call it the rotunda.

Our bedroom with its gas logs has proved to be a haven. We close the door and make the room toasty on cold evenings, cut the heat down in the rest of the place and ride out the night in our "apartment" within the house.

I like walking to the pharmacy or the grocery store, or to work in the mornings.

I love my women's choir. They sing so consistently and so well, not like high schoolers at all. We have a concert tonight for a group that is not our usual audience. Boy will they be surprised.

I like grown children. They are getting more entertaining all the time. When they are teens you wonder if they will make it to adulthood without someone killing them, but if they do make it, they are nice to know and to eavesdrop on. Their friends can be nice to know too.

I like it when students are doing well, long after they have left you behind. They seldom think of you and in actuality they have made their way without much help from me. Nevertheless I know that I played some role, perhaps formative or inspirational, but a role, in helping them become someone significant. I have made some singers. People hear them and think they are "talented." Actually I taught them to make those sounds, or rather, I insisted that they make those sounds. Emily, Talia, Kaitlyn, Bryan, Diana, Pedro and so many others are singing so well. I saw Kaitlyn on TV this week, singing opera. There is a great delight too in seeing their faces when they make that change in their vocal technique that produces their first really beautiful sound. One girl once said . . . "was that me?" Margaret made a breakthrough this week. Her face showed such surprise. It makes me laugh.

I like birds on my feeder. Not enough of them here at the new place. But there were goldfinches in the spring and they are spectacular.

Tivo is cool. If you want to watch television there is always something stored up and waiting for you. We watched the "Best of Antiques Road Show" the other night. "I found this in a house I bought with some trash and debris. I almost put it out for garbage but decided to save it for the frame." "That's good," said the appraiser, "because this old needlework is the finest example of its kind from the mid 1800's that we have ever seen. You have a museum quality textile worth $50,000. Congratulations." The guy responded. "I nearly put it in the trash." I like antiques roadshow. The ugly green vase worth 20,000 is also cool. I like resting more than I used too. Rest is good.

I like good movies. Each one is like a doctoral dissertation for about 25 people: the producers, directors, some of the primary actors, the cinematographer, the set designers and dressers, the costume department. In a great show those people earn a graduate degree every time. There are a lot of smart people in the world.

I am mystified by walking home and seeing the full moon hanging over the road. I don't understand the solar system with gigantic hunks of rock, gas, and ice, whirling round and round a huge ball of flame. How can gravity be so powerful that 2 billion miles away from the sun stuff is out there circling? Yes, I've been watching Nova again on Tivo.