Scones and tea

I love to cook--sometimes. Tonight began as one of those times. Now I've baked 85 scones in four varieties, craisins with nuts, chocolate chip, chocolate chip with nuts and Heath crunch, and apricot with currents. I'm waiting for the last batch to cool to finish packing them up all up. I still love cooking but my back is aching and I'm eager to be finished.

Tomorrow my students and I will share hot tea and scones at the Transcendentalist tea. It's some high effort (mostly mine) fun to culminate our study of Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, and Dickinson. The students have chosen a Transcendentalist from a list and will come prepared to adopt the persona of that individual for about fifty minutes. They'll turn in a short research paper, mostly to prove they understand in-text citations, and share some of the accomplishments of the person they've studied with the group. I have some period music on my ipod and a few other props to make it special, flowers, white tablecloth, sugar cubes. I am psyched. It's a monumental task to get all the pieces there and set up, but once it's rolling, it's wonderful. At least, it may be. It's something I love about teaching, you never really know how things will go, but whatever happens, I plan to enjoy it.

Emerson would approve and enjoy himself. Thoreau would not attend. Whitman would make a celebrated appearance and be sure to speak to everyone. Dickinson would have tucked the invitation away with a quiet smile without considering attending, or perhaps she would attend and sit quietly in the corner observing. I'll have a few of those, I'm sure.

This is year two for the Transcendentalist tea. I can hardly wait.