Budd came home with tamales and a pen-and-ink drawing of Monument Valley yesterday. It seems the Navajo are entrepreneurs. Everywhere we go, we see vendors with baked goods, tamales, artwork, jewelry and heaven knows what else. They don't just sit and wait for you to come to them, they wander around offering their wares to everyone who will pause. It reminds me a bit of Mexico, except that the Navajo aren't importunate like the street vendors in Mexico. But I may have to take all of Budd's cash away for safekeeping--he's a pushover.
I'm back in the swing of tutoring online. Can't decide whether I love it or hate it, but it's the only gainful employment open to me here. My best session yesterday was helping a student modify her poem to iambic pentameter. It amazes me that there is such a wide diversity in the quality of education our young people are receiving. One minute I'll be working with a 12th grader who can't spell, read or distinguish a noun from a verb. The next I'll have a 7th grader with an insightful essay on Shakespeare. This work is also sending me back to school. I don't remember learning the formalities of a five-paragraph essay, or even if there were any formalities. Now the structure is very tight, so in addition to the mechanics of grammar and spelling, I have to be conversant with thesis, topic sentences, ALA citation rules, etc. Thank goodness for the internet!
Got out the camera to take pictures yesterday, only to find the battery dead. Charged it all night and have taken a few inside our little park service house. As soon as the sun gets around to the right position, will take one from outside and post. Can't wait to get back to the canyon for some really beautiful scenery to post. Have I mentioned that there are only a couple of trails that can be hiked here without a Navajo guide? I'm looking forward to both of those, and hopefully some of the guided hikes as well.
Think I'll go see if my new canine friend Blaze would like another walk today. Hope his human doesn't mind...
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