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Here’s a close-up of the pain aux raisins I referenced on Tuesday. Like I said, it was the best pastry I’ve had since returning from France last July.

You may recall me saying that I lost nearly 20 pounds while in France, something that surprises people. Most people figure a person will put on 20 pounds while living in France for a year, what with the butter, cheese, wine, bread and pastries. But it’s very interesting when you’re living there. Overall, people in France are much fitter-looking than people in the United States. A theory I heard, one that makes sense to me, has to do with there being a lot less “fast food” in France. Oh, it’s there, and it’s growing in popularity. But it’s nothing like here in the states.

It will be interesting to see if in the next 10 years people in France start talking about an obesity epidemic.

In today’s photo is my friend, Maddie, who finished her 3 year career as a PSCS student today. Maddie and I acknowledge that we must be in the same karass, so similar are we in our way of approaching children. If you aren’t familiar with the term “karass,” it comes from a fictional religion in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Cat’s Cradle and means a group of people who work together to do God’s will. Some other people I think are in this karass are Julie Holmgren and Bob Perretz-Rosales. I think my mom may be in there, too.

Anyway, Maddie is off to The Evergreen State College this fall, planning to follow in my footsteps to study human development. She has a natural talent for working with middle schoolers and has plans on becoming a school counselor before one day overthrowing me as director of PSCS.

I offer this tribute to her for an incredible school year of hard work. Here’s to you, Maddie!

I took one of my students on a little tour of what I can best describe as “PSCS history” yesterday. She told me that one day she intends to have my job (which, by the way, is a very flattering thing for her to say). So as an end-of-the-year gift, I took her on this tour. It involved showing her some important sites in PSCS history, even those dating back to the school’s founding year, 1994-95. I told her that if she’s going to be school director some day, she’s going to need to know about these places.

Anyway, as the tour wound down we were both hungry and stopped at Crossroads Shopping Center in Bellevue, another of the school’s many former sites. Walking along the outside of the mall, we spotted this bakery, literally, “The French Bakery.” I insisted we go in.

We were greeted by a woman with a French accent who told me she was from Nice (a “nice” place to visit, as you may recall). I was quite taken by her. Even better, the pain aux raisins was by far the best pastry I’ve had since leaving France.

Wouldn’t YOU like to live in Utopian Heights? Who wouldn’t? And just how high are these height? I mean I had to point my camera skyward to get this picture!

This is another of my photos from the walk I went on yesterday. This was near the end of the walk, after I had stopped at the store to buy one of those cookies I talked about in a recent post. I certainly think those cookies are part of my utopia.

Part of what makes “Utopian Heights” so significant relates to a house near this sign (“under” may be more accurate). Turns out there is a website devoted to it. And to learn even more, I recommend this very detailed explanation.

It’s been a busy time for me at PSCS lately, so much so that I’ve contracted a little cold, a sure sign that my body is telling me to slow down. I took its advice today, taking it easy all day, including going on a relaxing walk.

I walked regularly in France while on sabbatical, and doing so today reminded me of being in France. It’s such a good thing for me to do. Today, like I did in France, I stopped to take pictures of things that caught my attention. Today’s photo was among the first I took. As beautiful as the flowers were, and that’s why I did stop, it was the number of bees present that really captured me. Having stopped, I could hear the buzzing and it was almost mesmerizing. Had I walked on by, I would have missed it.

Slowing down allows a person to see some things he might otherwise miss. Hear them, too.

PSCS has a unique graduation ceremony, one that displays the highest values of the school. Each graduating student chooses someone to introduce them to those in attendance, each reads her/his credo (a statement of belief they’ve spent a year crafting), and each is held in focused appreciation for over 40 minutes.

Today was our 2012 graduation ceremony. Five students were honored. The ceremony lasted almost 6 hours.

It’s an amazing event, one that has to be attended to be fully understood and appreciated. But imagine being 18 years-old and having those closest to you share with you, in front of others, what they think makes you special.

Early today I heard the sad news that the racehorse I’ll Have Another has been scratched from tomorrow’s big horse race, The Belmont Stakes. Had he won, he would have been the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to sweep horse racing’s Triple Crown.

I’ll Have Another suffered what in humans is an Achilles tendon injury. That’s what I’ve been dealing with, as you might recall. So now I have a champion racehorse to compare myself to! Not bad!

Today’s photo comes from 1995. I was leading a capture-the-flag game for probably 30 people, children and adults. Moments after this picture was taken, while I was running away from some young whipper-snapper, I heard a loud pop and felt a strange and very painful sensation in my upper leg. I had torn my hamstring.

If I was a horse back then, I think I would have been euthanized.

My parents are happy campers tonight. At long last, they are getting to see Chloe, the first time since Chloe got home from school. Trying to coordinate schedules has been tough, as Chloe is working quite a bit (college tuition ain’t free).

Anyway, Chloe worked it out to meet my father and me at PSCS this afternoon after our last horse race handicapping class of the year (FYI, my dad says Paynter is the best value play in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes – the students in class suggest Dullahan). Together, the three of us arrived a short time ago at my parents’ apartment and right now, as I write, my mom (Granny) is showing Chloe pictures from my parents’ recent trip to Nevada so my mom could attend her oldest granddaughter’s bridal shower (today’s photo).

That’s right, my niece, Chloe’s cousin, my parent’s granddaughter, Jessica, is getting married soon. Jessica was a big winner once on Wheel of Fortune, as seen in this YouTube video.

Inside jokes can be a fun way to connect with the people closest to you. You feel like you’ve got a little secret you share, so you feel even closer. It’s fun.

Today’s photo is a snippet of the PSCS scheduling board. Each weekday is individualized, the name of the day at the top of its own board. Two magnet hearts are put on either side of the day’s name to show the current day. So as you can see in today’s photo, the hearts are pointing to…

Kent Day?

Years ago, a student decided to honor another student by renaming “Tuesday” with his name. To this day, occasionally a current student will find the card named “Kent” and place it in front of the “Tuesday” card. I discovered this one yesterday.

The inside joke, and school history being carried on, pleases me.

I had one of those glorious moments today in my work as the director of PSCS. I had a “class” today with three students and I steered the subject on to one of my most important “lessons,” the importance of what I call “showing up.” In short, it means to not allow yourself to be distracted by ordinary things that cause you miss seeing the extraordinary when it comes to call.

After this, one of the three students stuck around to talk to me more, just one on one. She, it seems, was touched enough by what I said to want to divulge something about herself that caused her embarrassment. We sat and chatted for nearly an hour, a time in which she opened up to me, even cried. As I responded, I felt both honored by her trust in me and confident in my ability to gently talk to her.

In this hour, I was doing exactly what I want to do, being just the person I want to be, providing just what I think I’m here to provide.

Like I said, it was glorious.