Author: Andy Smallman

I’ve long been a big fan of something called positive psychology. Learn more by reading this Wikipedia entry on the subject, but for a short intro understand that it has to do with people learning to live more fulfilling lives. Much of PSCS, much of my life for that matter, is summed up by the concepts of positive psych.

As it pertains to PSCS, I’ve long looked for ways to further incorporate positive psychology into the school. One way I am doing it this year is to have our 6th & 7th graders learn some the concepts through a program called GoStrengths!

Designed to help children (and adults) learn resiliency and happiness skills, GoStrengths provides a series of animated modules that are both entertaining and informative. I’m writing about it tonight as I’ve spent the last hour reviewing material for a lesson I’ll be facilitating at PSCS tomorrow on something called “Thoughtholes.”

I just returned from a Sunday night potluck at the home of Jon Ramer. If you don’t know, Jon is the brains behind the Compassion Games, the month-long event in Seattle that started on September 21 and continues until October 21. He’s a pretty special guy, as you might gather from his Wikipedia page.

Having just called him the “brains behind the Compassion Games,” I think it would be more accurate to say he is the “heart behind the Compassion Games.” In fact, he is the heart behind a lot of things, not the least among these being recognition. He does a great job of honoring people and helping them feel good.

He’d done that for me many times. Every time I leave his presence, I feel good. That’s a pretty nice thing to say about a person.

He came in to PSCS on Friday afternoon and helped inspire a group of students and some adults in the school community. Today’s photo is from tonight’s potluck as Jon was doing what he does best. Acknowledging, recognizing, and celebrating the people in attendance.

Melinda was driving Ella to a friend’s house late this morning and came upon a detour along a busy thoroughfare not far from our house, Montlake Boulevard. Intrigued by the reason, when she got home she asked if I wanted to walk with her to the site of the detour/construction to see what was going on. Off we went.

It’s probably about a mile from our house and it was a lovely fall Saturday in Seattle so we had a nice walk and chat. Then arriving, we started a conversation with a worker who explained that a pedestrian bridge was being built over the boulevard, one that would ultimately connect the remodeled University of Washington football stadium (barely visible on the right in today’s photo) and the under construction light rail station nearby to the university. It should be quite nice. And secure with that knowledge, we started the walk back home.

Did I mention it’s been a pretty laid back day for us?

I can’t believe we’ve already had four weeks of school. This month has been very busy, what with the start of school keeping us occupied and all, that in many ways it has flown by. But four weeks? Really?

I need to stop and see if that’s right. Bear with me.

School began the day after Labor Day so that was week 1. Then there was another week. And then another week. And then this week.

I think I did my ciphering (naught plus two equals two, carry the one…) correctly. Four weeks.

Speaking of time, I mentioned on Tuesday that it was Melinda’s dad’s birthday. But it doesn’t really work that well to have a get-together with family on a weekday night so the family birthday party (complete with cake – see photo) took place tonight.

That’s right, I’m sure you’re thinking football, especially given all the nuttiness in Seattle this week around the sport. First the Seahawks played on Monday night and *won* a crazy game. And tonight the University of Washington beat Stanford in a huge upset.

But I’m not talking football. I’m talking Nutrition. I’m talking Fitness. And I’m talking for Life. The N.F.L.

Ella, Melinda & I are taking a class on Thursday night that is helping us learn the latest information about good eating and exercise habits. The class is pretty entertaining, too. It’s a small group of families meeting with a former pharmacist who decided she’d help people be healthier if she taught them about nutrition and being active instead of providing them medications for, wait for it, not eating well or keeping fit.

Tonight’s picture is of Ella showing us the amount of fat in a large size movie popcorn. The fat, represented by 31.5 teaspoons of Crisco, is in the baggie. It’s supposed to be kind of disgusting.

I had a really fun experience, totally unexpected, at school today. Tawni, our new teacher at PSCS, and I took our group of eight 6th & 7th graders on an outing this morning. Our ultimate destination was a huge park in south Seattle with a couple of zip lines. We rode the light rail to our stop, about 6 blocks from the park, and then started our walk. Along the way we passed a number of fun looking shops, among them a printing shop.

But Day Moon Press is no ordinary print shop.

This shop is like stepping back in time. We gazed in the window, all ten of us, enjoying the view of industrial age era printing presses and gadgets and inks and tools and such. Inside, a friendly-looking woman smiled at us, taking note of our presence. Then she came out to chat, showing us what she was working on. It was obvious she loved her job so I asked her, wanting the middle schoolers to hear it from her. I said, “Do you love your job?”

To which she took a step back, her face relaxing into a lovely smile, “Oh, yes. I have the best job in the world.”

Of course, after that she invited us all in to tour the store and to see the linotype machine she had in the back.

So much of what I wanted to do when I started a school was to connect young people to adults who love what they do. Passion is contagious. Catch it!

Translated from French, today’s blog post title is “My Father-in-law.” Translated literally, it’s “My beautiful father.” That’s a pretty cool literal translation, don’t you think? And mother-in-law is “belle-mère,” as in beautiful mother. Sometimes languages can be such fun.

Anyway, I’m writing about my “beau-père” because today is his, Dwight’s, 78th birthday. Happy birthday, Dwight! I went digging in the photo archives for an apt shot to illustrate today’s entry and found this one. There he is, young Dwight, maybe before he was Melinda’s dad, playing the bagpipes. That’s a pretty cool instrument to play, the bagpipes. Way back in 1994 Dwight came in to PSCS (actually, PSCS came to him – the class met at his house) to teach a group of teenagers how to play the bagpipes. His creativity in teaching the class became one of my favorite stories from that school year, the school’s first.

Dwight designed a way for all the students to have their own bagpipes. They made them, following his directions. The bag used to hold air was the most ingenious part of the apparatus. Each one was made from a turkey oven roaster bag.

Here’s to you, Dwight!

Thanks for the feedback shared about who’s reading this blog. I really appreciate the responses and am taking them all to heart. I know I can be a little silly at times and many (most?) of the posts here are lighthearted. I try to sprinkle in some serious things now and then.

Regarding serious things, unless you’re a professional football fan, this is not one of those. Melinda & I watched the end of the Monday Night Football game tonight, it being interesting because the Seattle Seahawks were playing (and, hey, they’re practically our next door neighbors at PSCS!). The game ended amid huge controversy and with the Seahawks winning. It was so crazy that even Melinda got involved. She suggested I post something silly on a national blog in which people are ranting about the officiating.

See, if you’re a football fan this is a serious post. If you’re not, this is ridiculous stuff.

Oh, regarding the photo, it’s from Florence, Italy in 2011. I like it. Melinda likes it. No controversy here.

First off, I’m curious how many of you are still out there reading this blog. The blog count, something I check regularly, has dropped considerably lately. Yesterday, for instance, only had 30-some unique visitors recorded. That’s quite a contrast to some of the past counts, back when the blog hit count was consistently over 100 and sometimes even much higher.

Have I lost my audience? Am I boring you?

For instance, how interesting is it to see this photo from 1991? Yeah, that’s Melinda and me, less than a year into our marriage. Chloe and Ella, even PSCS, were mere glints in our eyes. We were mere babies!

But, boy, weren’t we cute?

Melinda was regularly riding horses back then and was participating in a horse show at the Kirkland Hunt Club, not far from Seattle. It was fun to see her doing something she loved doing.

Say, on blog counts. My Compassion Game Kindness Mission site had well over 350 unique visitors yesterday. Maybe that’s part of what’s making me wonder about the interest in this blog.

Ducks fly south for the winter, right?

Well, I’m not sure what happens with them when summer turns to fall, but I sure know what happens to me in terms of duck. I want me some confit de canard!

Today’s picture is of an individual serving of said confit that I brought back from France in July, saving it for just such an occasion as last night. Melinda wanted her favorite enchilada. I had already made a quick meal for Ella prior to her babysitting gig. Chloe is away at college. And the weather had turned to cloudy and cool. Time for me to eat some duck!

I was so excited. It’s made to be cooked in the microwave so I popped it in, heated it up, and presto! 2 minutes later I was a happy dinner eater.

It was pretty darn good, too.