Stromboli and Cinnamon Rolls--Ambrosia!

Our school cafeteria is renown for its excellence. The cooks are revered by our present students and fondly remembered by the alumni. If I ate the noon meal every day, I'd soon be as chubby as a sausage roll, so I don't. However, there are some temptations that are irresistible. Stromboli fall into this category. Every time they are on the menu, the cooks make it a point to let me know so I don't miss my favorite treat. Today they were served with their special tomato sauce, salad,  ice cream and strawberries.  I composed an impromptu stromboli song and led my seventh and eighth grade boys in an enthusiastic tribute to the cooks.

It went something like this:

Stromboli, Stromboli
So plump and roly-poly
The meat and cheese
Can't fail to please
It thrills my little soul-i

I'm so glad our school chose not to comply with the new government cafeteria regulations which demand they serve proportions which might be sufficient for an eighty-five pound seventh grade girl but sadly insufficient for her brother who plays basketball and practices for a couple of hours every day.  Of course that choice did cost us--we lost the small stipend that the state had awarded us to cover the cost of reduced-meal tickets--but we felt that having the liberty to use our own judgment in choosing nourishing and delicious meals for our students was worth the cost.

Speaking of delicious, a couple of the home-economic students just brought in a pan full of cinnamon rolls, still hot from the oven. They offered to share them with the calculus class. I just happened to be here, since it's my hour off.

Today was a No-diet day. I guess I'll fast tomorrow.

More Philosopher Limericks

So do I exist or  not?

Well, I just had a sentient thought.

And I cannot be dead

With these thoughts in my head

And I think them; I think them a lot!

Francis Schaeffer
When sin becomes cause to rejoice,
And "right to life" changes to "choice"
When the foundations give,
"How then should we live?"
We can justify raising our voice!

Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Man is naturally good and born free
His children conceived equally
Society corrupts him
Enslaves and bankrupts him
So I'm giving my children to Thee

 








Ludwig Wittgenstein
"Do away with explaining",  he explains
For words are all subject to change
There is no deeper meaning
Just descriptions convening
What I mean is ...no meaning remains.

Coral Skies at Seven

I was surprised by coral skies
With bits of golden at the edges
And pastures gray which grimly lay
beneath the fog that swathed the sedges

I ventured out on a country road
Where the noise of traffic could not follow
And soothed my eyes with the flaming skies,
With the solid hill and the wispy hollow

And standing speechless all alone
Surrounded by Heaven's lush display
A bare-boned tree, amazed, like me
Sighed a quiet song as we started the day.

A delicate song that matched the mist
on its fragile way to vaporize
A peal of praise for this day of days
And the lavish beauty of coral skies

Asturias (Three Word Wednesday)

He hails from the Land of Asturias
But his careful Castilian is curious
I'd caution, "Be wary
Suspicious and chary".
It's inevitable that he be spurious







This "Three Word Wednesday" our given words were curious, wary and incredible.  While seeking a rhyme for the word curious, I stumbled upon this beautiful principality on the Northern coast of Spain.

 It has its own language, although the people also speak Spanish, and a rich history of independence, kings and castles.

The Capital city of Oviedo is one of the safest in Europe.

And it seems to be a hiker's paradise.

Beaches

Mountains











Picturesque little towns.  How enlightening Three Word Wednesday can be! Especially when I choose to write a limerick.

That, students, is one of the reasons I force you to write structured poetry.

Philosophical Epitaphs

My seniors are doing a brief study on philosophy and, in order to help them learn a little bit about several famous philosophers, I've been writing limericks about them. There's something ironic about condensing a man's life into five lines...particularly men as verbally prolific as all these guys. I know I wouldn't want just anyone to summarize my life like this...unless I  had a  hand in the creation of the summary.  Maybe it's not even forgivable, but it helps me remember who they were, and maybe it will help my students as well.

 

Friedrich Nietzsche

Nietzche shook off all Deity’s commands

Postulated a strong “Superman”

“God is dead!” “It’s too sad!”

Then he died—raving mad

Cause he couldn’t "wipe the blood off his hands".

 

Immanuel Kant

Beyond God and nature he stood,

So what was the source of all “good”

The “Thing in itself’”

Sat on too high a shelf

Attain it? Well Kant never could.

C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis, though once a contender

Became a strong, Christian defender

"Surprised" through the years

"By his joys" and his fears

He discovered the truth in surrender.

Bertrand Russell

He “pursued what was gentle and wise”

A society where  “envy dies”

He chased “beauty”,   “nobility”

“Insight” and “gentility”

Did he reach it? Just ask his four wives.

Blaise Pascal

Pascal wagered, “What if I choose

To have Faith, and abide by those views

If death proves me right

I gain Paradise

If it proves me wrong, what do I lose?