A cloudy day - guess that is good so Ally won't get so burned at the beach. Steve picked them up yesterday around noon. They missed their plane twice and had to stay over in Puerto Rico, but all Ally wanted to do is be on the beach when they stopped for lunch at Iggy's on the way from the airport. Hopefully the weather will clear up for the two days Steve took off to do touristy stuff with them. Right now the rain is really coming down.

A charter catamaran ran aground on the reef out in the bay a couple of days ago. Same kind of sailboat we rent when we sail out of Tortolla. Guess they weren't watching their depth charts as that reef is so close to the surface you can walk out to the little island when the tide is low. We knew something was wrong when one of the ferries started blowing its horn like crazy. Guess he was trying to warn the sailboat but it was too late. The ferry had to stick around until the Coast Guard came. I am sure those ferry passengers were not happy. It was at least a couple of hours - nothing happens quickly down here!

Read Don Trembath's Rooster - an Orca title. You might recognize Trembath from his Lefty Carmichael has a Fit. I had to pick the book up when it came in as the cover caught my eye. It is the backside of a guy's jeans with his hand holding a green bowling ball. The ball is the color of a Granny Smith green apple and I can't get that out of my head. Guess that means I won't forget the cover. Nor the novel for that matter! Rooster is one of those teens just sliding along through school - smart, but putting no effort into anything because nothing intrigues him. He is a good writer, but his subject matter is not always of interest to the teachers. Doing a book report on a collection of Penthouse letters was not going to garner him any points with the English teacher! So, the principal decided that for Rooster to graduate he has to coach an adult special needs bowling team - a group of varied personalities and then some. To keep him focused, the principal's out spoken daughter Elma is going to help. The characters are a delight and Rooster's outlook on life is certainly altered - he is doing something that matters. He actually takes on the responsibility of working with this group of special needs adults and begins to realize that he has to find something in his life to focus on. I found myself shaking my head and smiling as I read this one and a few times had tears in my eyes. Give Rooster to the guy who is slouched in the back of the classroom - the one you know who is quite intelligent, just not focused.

Now I am going to go to the very opposite end of the spectrum - to early readers. I had to laugh over this Scholastic title - If You're Angry and You Know It! by Cecily Kaiser. I absolutely love it! You can basically sing the text to the song If You're Happy and You Know It and it covers the various ways a little one can express anger without hurting anyone else, from stomping his/her feet to eventually the more healthy way of telling a friend. What a cool little paperback. Certainly worth the $3.99 and should be in every primary level classroom. I plan on sharing it with the primary age students at Montessori. :-)

Gotta get some work done before I go pick up our landlord at the airport. I get to drive his Land Rover. :-)