kudos to the Mighty Assistant... dried, fresh, and blooming flowers

above you see some of the bookmarks we made this winter. I had my hand in gluing the flowers down, but my wonderful assistant worked the flower press with many a student last summer and fall. The other day she made an arrangement of of Azalea blooms which led to...

1. a student saying,"Can we dry those?" and off I went with students to gather spring blooms and the Mighty Assistant and the other students got out the microwave press. We came back and then back again with blooms of Blue Bells, Dogwoods, Cherries, Apples, and Pansies. Not what I had planned, but a wonderful day to capture spring in our midst
2. On Tuesday, our supervisor came in to observe my teaching and saw the flower arrangements. Today my supervisor called to thank the Mighty Assistant for the arrangements she made this morning for a luncheon, which celebrated the success of some of our students.

This morning as I worked on the computer, the Mighty Assistant, saw something that no one had seen. One of our mystery aloes had decided to put on a show. And as my work week ended, I took some photos of that discovery...

The Mighty Assistant fights entropy

In my geology class, I write ENTROPY on the board. We speak about great forces causing the not to be expected consolidation of elements. Gravity taking iron and nickel to the core. Intense heat leading to fractional melting and thus creating silicon rich granite. Life's energy taking it's high share of phosphorous. Volcanism releasing carbon into the system so it can be consolidated in limestone.

But first we talk order vs chaos. My classroom leans toward the land of disorder. I start talking about the amount of energy it takes for it to be as neat as it is, but pause. Then give credit where credit is due. Sitting in the background keeping data on my students is The Mighty Assistant (blogs need characters), who battles entropy and the chaos that I have a hard time slowing down.

She came in having to fill some mighty big shoes left by my previous assistant, and said something like, "I know nothing about growing plants. I kill them all."

I say, "We do a lot in the kitchen too."

She says, "I don't know much about that either."

I don't think I was impressed by her resume. But her honesty was in fine shape.

She saw I needed help fighting entropy and has become a force in consolidating materials in my classroom just as gravity, heat, life and volcanism do it for the planet. She has gotten her hands dirty (in soil and bread dough) and leaped into working with the plants and students.

And let it be known that the Phillies ended the drought of championships we had experienced in Philadelphia by her idea of making "Lucky Phillies" bouquets on the day they won the world series. On that day all else stopped and we sent students out to cut zinnias, mums, cosmos, dahlias, snapdragons..... And then the students delivered arrangements to loyal fans around campus. No training in horticulture could have led to such a wonderful idea, fun day, and world championship. This summer she took on the project of collecting strawflowers and thought of a cool idea then in her compassionate ways, she made one for me to take home to my wife.