October 24, 2026 VIRTUAL INSANITY

 Talk about PTSD. We have been teaching virtually for the last few weeks while our building recovers from the fire.  Seriously having COVID flashbacks. Virtually teaching is so much work. All lessons have to be uploaded into google classroom--all online work has to be be graded after it is submitted AND I'm drowning in emails all day long. Figuring out new technology is also time consuming and super frustrating. As an art teacher, it is even more difficult because students don't have access to the same materials--I can't walk around and offer a little extra help, cheer them on, or assess work while students are in the room.  IT IS ALSO AN ENORMOUS HEADACHE spending so much time on the computer. It's totally been affecting my reading AND THAT DOESN'T WORK FOR ME. My eyes are too tired to read and I've been too tired to write my blog. UGH.  Hopefully be back in school sooner than later. In the meantime, I finally finished a book yesterday that you might like, it's M. L. Stedman's new book A Far- Flung Life. The MacBride family has owned Meredith Downs, a million acre sheep station in Western Australia for several generations. As the story unfolds, It is 1958 and Phil MacBride and his two sons, Warren and Matt, are driving a truck full of sheep to the station when a kangaroo hits the truck and tragedy strikes. Phil and Warren are instantly killed and Matt ends up in the hospital for several months with severe brain injuries, black outs and memory loss. Meanwhile, back at the station, Matt's mother, Lorna, and sister, Rose, hold down the fort while navigating through their grief. When Matt finally comes home, his life is very different. He has to learn to manage a station he barely remembers. His sister Rose also has problems of her own that cause her to leave the ranch for a time, eventually  returning with scars of her own. An unspeakable event --that I will not tell you about--also changes the landscape of the family forever. This is a beautifully written, family saga that spans about forty years with many interesting characters including Pete Peachy, Bonnie and Andy, who live in extreme isolation and endure  grief, love, guilt and hopefully forgiveness.