Finally - a bit of sunshine. There are still clouds, but the sun is peeking out. I opened the bedroom blinds this a.m. to see 7 white sails headed out from Charlotte Amalie - what a beautiful sight. Smiled at the thought of all the tourists having a great day on the charter catamaran that was in the lead. I like this being one bay over from town. We can see Water Island off to the right - lots of homes on the island and they have to take a boat back and forth to St. Thomas to work. We were going to look into an apt. on Water Island that included a boat, but I was still working at UVI at the time and not too keen on being in a small boat every day in my work clothes. I envisioned getting drenched by the wake of a larger boat going by. Besides I am not a morning person and having to get up even earlier was not my cup of tea.

I have an avid football fan at Montessori who has read all of the football books we have so when I got my package of books from Orca I had to first read Juice by Eric Walters. The cover art is superb - a group of football player's hands in a pyramid. It is an Orca Soundings title so I knew it would be a quick read. Excellent book about Michael, AKA Moose, a football player who has been named MVP at the end of the season. The new coach comes in and he is a slick one - more like a used car salesman is Michael's mom's impression of him. Before you know it the team has a new weight room and Tony, a trainer who makes special shakes for the guys. They are bulking up faster than they should, but they are under the coach's spell. Then the coach pulls Moose in for a chat about how he is the lead on the team and he needs more than his natural ability to bulk up. Agreeing that he will do anything to ensure a winning team Moose agrees to take steroids even though he knows that not only are they are dangerous health wise, this is unethical. But, it is just for 12 weeks, with maybe another round of them if they make the play offs. This book should be in every HS boys' locker room and in every high school library. The guys, football players or not, will relate to Moose's desire to be the best and do what the coach wants, no matter the cost to himself. A 101 page cautionary tale! :-)

Now to design a floor plan of what I want the Montessori Library to look like after we add a few book cases, a new circulation desk and move tables around. :-)