The Tide Is High ..... Tangier Island 10/3/14

The Tide Is High and I'm on my blog....  (if you're a child of the 80s think Blondie and feel free to hum along)

This morning the tide was up much higher than usual.  This made it a bit difficult getting to school, but also made for beautiful pictures as the wind was dead calm and the water very reflective.  Even though I was running late (1.  it's Friday  2.  N. had an ambulance call in the middle of the night and I had trouble going back to bed)  I could not resist grabbing my camera and taking some pics from the back deck and then again on my way to school.

Here are some of those pictures:

From my back deck...

here is the view from my patio door that caught my attention as I shlepped through the living room still half asleep from being up half the night.  It actually gave me a little burst of energy as I ran to get my camera.

My little dock of the bay is under water this morning.  Its little poles are there on there on the right hand corner.

It's Fall and lots of wildfowl are beginning to fly.  I wish I could have stayed out on my deck longer, as several flocks of geese, some pelicans, and a crane or two flew over.  I could only grab a few quick shots because I needed to finish getting ready for school.  The morning was crisp and the light was gorgeous!

One last shot before heading in

Seen on the way to school

The view as I prepare to cross Canton bridge and leave my neighborhood for the main section of the island.  You can't really see the school  in this picture, but it is across the street from the water tower, behind the church.

A neighbor, also headed to work...

ducks at play on Canton Road

I am coming from the east side, so I can get to the school, those coming from the west side might not have such an easy time of it.

Pretty reflections in the parking lot:

Is this how you got to your school?

It's all part of life on an island.  And that's the view from my dock of the Bay today.

Cake Bake - Tangier Style

Happy Friday!  N. and I have successfully made it through the first week of school!  Now our thoughts turn to the weekend.  But first, check out these pictures of the school my class took while out on a walk with me this morning. This year I have been asked to make our school's website, and I am having my class help out.

Speaking of looking forward to the weekend, on Tangier there is a tradition of having a homemade sweet, such as a cake or pie to go with your "big" weekend suppers.  A very popular fundraiser on Tangier is a Cake Bake sale.  These are often held on Friday, or on Saturday morning, so you can get your weekend sweet and not have to spend your day off in the kitchen.  Here are a few of my favorite cake recipes from the old church cookbook (Food For My Household).  Most of these are old fashioned traditional recipes, and all taste great!

These Recipes Take The Cake:

If you have ever heard of a Smith Island Cake, this recipe is very similar and delicious!

A Tour Of Tangier Island ( With Recipes ! )

A Little More Information About Life On Tangier

A few years back I took an online course for teachers on making and using slideshows in the classroom. For our final project I made a show using pictures I had taken of Tangier. If you'd like to learn a little more about Tangier,  please take a few minutes to watch this.

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Tomorrow I will start back to school for the beginning of my 25th year of teaching.  I have taught all my years at Tangier Combined School, the island school.  Our school belongs to the Accomack County Schools system of Virginia.  We are the only combined school in Virginia that offers grades K-12 in the same building.  

A look across the marsh at our school

Our school population is dropping from when I first moved to Tangier.  Many young families now move away from the island.  It is becoming increasingly hard to make a living here, due to economic factors and the many strict regulations that have been put on the commercial fishing and crabbing industries.  When I began teaching the average class size was about 10 - 12.  Now average class size is about 4 - 5.  This year I will be teaching 8th grade, all subjects.  Our 8th grade is part of middle school and does not change classes except for a computer language course and a career introduction course that are taught by one of my fellow teachers.  I am responsible for the SOL (Virginia Standards of Learning) subjects English, Writing, Pre-Algebra, Physical Science, and Civics & Economics.  This year I will have 3 students.  Yes, you read that right.  There are just three girls in the 8th grade.  Next year, if I teach 8th grade again, there will be only 1 student - a boy.  Several teachers in our school have combined classes where two grades are taught in the same classroom.  I expect this to continue.

A new student?

A Taste Of Tangier

If you saw my Tangier Homecoming post, you saw my picture of a fried soft crab sandwich (so Yummy!) and I thought some readers might be interested in some Tangier style recipes.  So here are a few to start us off.  I am going to try to cheat and take pictures of the recipes so I don't have to do all that typing.  

This first lot of recipes will be crab recipes from the "Food For My Household" cookbook, put together by the Methodist Ladies of Swain Memorial Church (seen above by the school) in 1986.  There's a lot of good food in this book, and my copy is well worn.

Now lets cook some crab!

There's still more to come, but I'll save them for another time.  A friend with a blog has themes where she does certain things on certain days of the week.  Maybe I'll make Tuesdays recipe days. Thanks for reading!