Make my day

The first e-mail I opened this morning was from Rebecca McKinney, the West Seattle High School teacher whose journalism class I spoke with last week. She thanked me for coming and said the students enjoyed the visit. That was really cool.

Before my visit I confessed some trepidation to both Michelle and Mich -- high school students can be a rough crowd -- but figured that if even one kid came away feeling encouraged about journalism that would be good.

Given that, Ms. McKinney's note this morning really made my day:

Mark,
Thanks so much for coming out last week. Your talk was very informative. My students write a journal entry at the beginning of every class and on Friday I asked them what they learned from you. There were many good reports, but one in particular that I thought was worth sharing was, "Yesterday I learned that I really do want to be a journalist. He reassured me that this is what I want to do with my life. This guy was realistic and he showed the bad and good sides of journalism." Thanks again.
Rebecka McKinney

Nice.

Snow Day

What a full day we had -- we started out dancing in the snow. Then the Bailey Family walked by, and it turns out it was Bailey's ninth birthday, and on top of that, she's having her first ever sleepover tonite. Plus which, she wished that it would snow on her birthday, and then it did! It just so turned out that I happened to have a Sleepover Kit in my car, so I gave it to her for her birthday. Wow, was she ever happy.

Then we walked on down to the junction and hit up the cupcake store. Then, onto the antique store for a hat purchase. Then home again, home again, for delish home made pizza. Pretty good day. Here's the replay.



For a slideshow with larger images go here.

West Seattle snow walk

It was a beautiful, snowy day here today -- surprising, because it never actually snows when they predict it will. We went for a walk to the Junction. Michelle took a bunch of pics but hasn't posted anything but the doggies yet, so I thought I'd put up a few.

'Making pizza, huh?'

That was the bagboy at the store tonight, when I went to pick up a few things. I'm guessing the giveaway was the two pizza pans and the pizza slicer and maybe, if he were really paying attention, the can of Italian tomatoes, the mozarella cheese, Italian sausage and a few other ingredients.

"But where's the dough," he asked.

That was already home on the counter, "resting," as Grandma Matassa used to say. Following Mom's instructions I had made and kneaded the dough and left it under a blanket to rise. This wasn't the fist time I'd made pizza, but it's been probably 20 years and I wasn't sure how it would come out.

I got a little help in the tossing and spreading phase from Michelle and Franny:




I think it worked OK, judging purely by the fact that Gina and Franny asked for seconds, which they never do around here. I made two pies -- sausage, scarfed mainly by me and Michelle, and kalamata olives and basil, the girls' favorite. Everybody said they liked it, and I thought it tasted pretty good, but the dough wasn't as thick as Mom's and so didn't match the perfect pizza of my youth.

I'm not sure exactly where I went wrong -- maybe it needed a little more kneading, maybe a little more rising -- but it was close enough for now, and I'm sure next time will be better.



For a slideshow with larger images go here.

The Dogs of Winter

Amazingly, it snowed like crazy today. We went for a walk down to the junction. On the way home I got some pics of the neighborhood dogs frolicking in the snow.



For a slideshow with larger images go here.