Gone with the rain

Well, I guess it's high time to get back in the swing. Things have been crazy here, and I haven't had a desire to write. We have been working on a remodel that is going to go into full swing soon. Saturday the wood floor was delivered. It's a 5 inch mahogany floor that was pulled out of a Philippine grade school. The wood is about a hundred years old, but in great shape. It should look amazing once we get it in. A good friend of mine is going to help me install it. Ned has been helping out with demo (we pulled all the drywall off of a center wall). We plan to remove the wall, redo the floors and kitchen -to start. A bit much, but what do you expect? It should be really cool once it is all done. I love the fact that the floor already comes with a narrative. I'd like to believe that natural materials, like wood, have a soul. This floor has a great story and I'm glad that we can add to it. R. has been working too hard as per usual. I have finals this week, and a new set of kids/classes next week. I am also going to have a period off to do research on an inclusion model for the language arts classes. Inclusion is basically a heterogeneous grouping of students. Our English staff will need some support to get ready for such a change, but I think it will make a much richer classroom experience. We all live and work together don't we? We'll see how it goes. The worst that can happen is that I lose all my credibility with the staff. No big deal. I just finished recording some former students' band. It turned out pretty good, but seemed to take a long time. Again, a learning experience. We played jazz last Friday night. Wow. What an amazing night. We ended the night with 'All Blues.' We sort of had a breakthrough. We were really playing jazz. Improvising, all together, an organic musical experience. Very cool. I hope to find a few more semi-steady music gigs. Ned and I have talked about a project. That would be cool. My band of ten years recently replaced me with a new drummer. It feels kind of weird, even though I left. I guess I feel like it's still my group. I'm happy they are moving on. They are working on some cool stuff. Change is hard, but as you can see it's part of life.