Joshua Tree, Monopoly, Frogs in January

Last night my husband and I listed to the first side of The Joshua Tree on our turntable. It's been a while since we listened to records, even longer since I took out my old U2 albums (though two of their CDs in the car have been in rotation a year or longer). I'd forgotten how good that album is, full of lush instrumentals and lyrics about wide open places. Even Bullet the Blue Sky, which I used to skip over, sounded good; it made me feel edgy and uncomfortable which is what the song is supposed to do. The only way the experience could have been improved was if I had been lying on the floor wearing a pair of headphones. My husband said that he used to listen to his old country albums and get sentimental. That was before he met me. I told him that's the great thing about listening to someone else's music -- no memories unless you make new ones.

We'd just finished a game of Monopoly. Well, I say finished, but we never finish a game. Ed and I just quit playing and say neither of us won. We're not very competitive that way, I suppose. We both had property and Ed even had some hotels in his slum district, Baltic and Mediterranean. I had a couple of houses on Boardwalk and Park Place, having traded him a railroad and the electric company to come up with prime real estate. Monopoly is all about wheeling and dealing, but we just play for fun and quit when we're tired. I like to put all the taxes and get out of jail money in the middle of the board; whoever lands on Free Parking gets the pot. I see that's not in the rules, but so be it. Everyone should at least have the possibility of a windfall.

Before we went to bed, we went outside to let the dog take a walk. It was dark, but LOUD. There was this percussive click-click-click all around the pond, a peculiar music interrupted now and then by what sounded like tribal call and response. "What IS that?" I wondered aloud. We both finally agreed that it was frogs or toads or frogs and toads, hundreds of them tuning up under a bruise-black sky. We stood and listened and laughed. Now we can say that we've heard the frogs in January. Only in Florida.

I met with the two women I'm doing the group project with last Saturday. There was a good rapport and we had a successful planning meeting. We decided to do our project on language differences. Jeannie talked about growing up as the child of Puerto Rican immigrants. Nancy talked about traveling in Europe where most people spoke several languages. I shared some of my husband's experiences teaching welding to students from the Marshall Islands. We split up the tasks and made plans to meet again tonight at the library. Tonight, Nancy came in and gave me the research she had done on language groups in the U.S. She told me she was going to have to drop out of EPI because of travel commitments at work; she was flying to Nashville on Wednesday and wouldn't be back until Saturday. I could tell she was disappointed and I told her Jeannie and I would be sorry to lose her. Nancy has a full time job and kids at home. I realize how fortunate I am to have this opportunity at this time in my life. Another blessing counted.

I've completed the hiring packet for Okaloosa County and I'm ready to sign on as a substitute teacher. Not sure when I'll turn the packet in. My grandmother will be going into the nursing home while my grandfather has double knee replacement surgery, and she's asked me to go with her next week and help her get settled in. I've told her that I'm going to be going to work soon and she knows I'm in school. Still, I may hold off turning in my packet.

It's good to stop and listen to the frogs now and then.