back to school

so today was my first day back to school. the mono really took a toll on me. 11 days of pure misery :( still not back to normal, but i'm feeling soooo much better. i was warmly welcomed back by my students and fellow reedy creekers. most responses included something along the lines of, "you look rested," or "you look better," or "you look like you may have lost weight." apparently, my children thought differently. so let me set the scene. i'm reading a book that my class created last year while the kids are seated in front of me. we get to the end, and there's a close-up pic of me. a moment later, one of the boys shouts, "wow, ms. west, you look skinnier then. right here (as he points to his cheeks) looks bigger on you now." another shouts out, "hey, that's not very nice." my response is, "what? am i fat now?" as i laugh aloud at their perceptions and know that i haven't changed at all since then. maybe mono has done more damage than i thought. i guess it has been 2 weeks since i've seen the gym :-/

yesterday i was dying to get out of the house and feeling a bit adventurous. so off to birkdale i went to shoot a few pics. i really wanted to ask people if i could shoot their children, but i decided that wouldn't be such a great idea, especially in those words. so i settled for the backs of the older couple. here are the results: (but don't be too critical. i'm an amateur!)