In celebration of Anne Claude Cotty

We had a dinner tonight to celebrate our art teacher, Anne Claude Cotty.  She's been coming out to the island to teach art for a few years now.

Let me explain why that statement is so very significant.

When a teacher (or service provider, in school-speak) comes out to this particular island to provide a service, it costs us a lot of money. We incur travel cost for that teacher, on top of their salary, on top of the cost of providing transportation. Significant expense.

Now, don't get me wrong, I most assuredly do not begrudge these providers their pay. I need their services, and am happy to obtain them. I am grateful for their expertise, and even more grateful for their willingness to travel out here and school our children.

I'm just saying it's expensive; we incur costs mainland schools don't even know about.

(And these providers have the joy of occasional wet and sloppy boat rides, and the uncertainty of getting home.)

Anne Claude opts to come out on our Wednesday ferry, and stay overnight. She does classes in small groups on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, and goes off on the Thursday afternoon boat.

And she loves it.

Most providers seem to enjoy coming out. They seem to enjoy the school, and the kids, and the island. I don't have any professional contact with them, but have met each of them in some capacity, and they always seem happy to be here (thank goodness!).

But Anne Claude loves it. She loves the kids, loves the island, loves the school, and she's so passionate about what she teaches!

You know what's coming next, right?

Sadly, budgetary constraints will prevent us from continuing our regular art classes with Ms. Cotty. We will look into alternative funding sources, and hope she will continue to supplement our children's education in some way.

I drowned my sorrow in chocolate.

chocolate cake with dark chocolate and raspberry ganache

Hmmm,

anybody want to hazard a guess as to why there wasn't enough ganache to coat the sides??

Just kidding. The ganache was too thin for that. I even had some left over.

But I won't by tomorrow morning. I assure you.

I am on Chocolate Overload, even for me!

And, mark your calendars boys and girls, I do believe it's finally happened.

I'm swamped.

I'm forgetting things. I'm neglecting things. I'm avoiding things.

I never do this.

In an effort to get back on track, I swept off the top of my massive desk,and  cleaned, reorganized, and prioritized.

Oh my.

It's not good, my friends.

I found things.

Things like post-it notes with to-do lists on them. Note-SSS, as in, plural.

In blind panic, I re-listed all the notes I could find onto one sheet of paper. I've apparently been scribbling in the corners of random pages....oh, my. Very unlike me.

The Master To-Do list is now an 8.5x11 sheet of paper covered in writing.

I'm nauseous.

Here is a lovely example of a swept-under-the-rug list:

Nice. School stuff. Important school stuff.

Neglected since before Christmas. How do I know that?

Super-memory powers? Spidey-sense?

No, the Xmas cards gave it away. 

At least I know the list is from this year...I ran out of photo cards for the first time, ever.

Send help.