Ahh, that a very nice fire. We had a lovely day in our house. Four former students came by for lunch. They are all in their fourth year of university and I now feel old.
Just the same, all younger kids. I am now the same age as many of my students parents. Maybe even older than a few.
The kids who visited today are just great kids. I worked with them all for four years in Student Council and one of the girls I had in as a student for all four years. She was SC president and now wants to get her Ph.D. in English.
There was a group of kids that Jim had for 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. Quite a few of these kids (who are now in their twenties) will come by school to visit him and others who don’t live in the area any more write and email him. So you may be seeing and hearing from these students for many years to come.
Don’t feel old. Young people age faster than mature people. It’s a fact. Therefore, a few years in their lives are only worth a few months in yours.
Plus, it’s really nice that you keep in touch with them. I’m always happy when I see the various teachers in my life — especially now that I can talk to them adult to adult.
I just recently began calling one of my teachers by her first name even though I graduated over 25 years ago AND she is less than 10 years older than me. My dad is a retired teacher/administrator and many of his student who are older than me still call him Mr. even though he tells them to use his first name. The country needs good teachers who are close to their students — I’m glad you are doing this. Feel good about it — don’t feel old.
Thanking good teachers is one of the great things you can do in life.
There’s another part of the ethic, too — the only way you can really thank those older than you that helped you when you were younger is to pass it on. Help someone younger than yourself.
How long does the surgery take? Are you going to be at the hospital with her? I’m terrible about that. I’d always rather just go away and come back when I can do something other than pace.
I had a brain lapse over the weekend and told them I couldn’t be there because I couldn’t get off work! I didn’t put together in my head that her surgery & my weekend fit perfectly (in a sick way). It’s like the two halves of my brain weren’t talking to each other.
I don’t mind hospitals. She’s spent a lot of time in them since we moved to Kansas (in junior high & high school she was in the hospital 3 months a year – usually 3 1-month stays).
And she’s had tons of surgery. I’m really there during the surgery for Dad. I don’t like him having to be there alone. He actually worries (he forgets that she’s the Miracle Mom). And I can distract him with my wit.
Are you going to the hospital anyway or take advantage of your mistake?
I’m a bad, bad person and I know what I’d do since I just about went nuts during mom’s quintuple bypass surgery. I’m like your father; I sit there imagining all the things that are going wrong while I just sit there.
I called them last night to tell them I could be there. And I’m glad I did. The surgery isn’t until 12:30, so I would have been wandering around for hours looking for them if I hadn’t checked.
Usually it’s scheduled for 8:30 & happens at 10:30.
I hate to get up and leave the fire, but I think that I will mosey on home so I can get up early and go to the gym tomorrow. Then I’ll have all day to finish grading papers and to play with Andrew.
I had a nice conversation with my first grade teacher yesterday, Lurie R, she’s 98, and still sharp as a tack… and a UND Hockey fan to boot, hmmm did they beat Harvard last night?
BTW she’s a die-hard lefty. If’n she makes 100 she’ll probably through the president’s birthday card in the trash like the other die-hard democrat I knew who got a card from Reagan when he turned 100.
comes from an American lady of “baby boom” age. Being precocious in an age befor there were “gifted programs, she was placed in the “advanced” first grade, which in that little school in a southern town in the 50s, meant that the advanced first grade shared a classroom, and teacher, with the second grade.
The teacher’s method was this: Every morning, she would write out the state required curriculum for each grade on the blackboards.
Any student who finished both first and second grade work was dismissed for the day to go to the public library. As the teacher put it, “once you have done your schoolwork, you are free to go and learn things.”
Only the lady and her best friend, a little boy, were able to spend the day in the library. They would finish the work in ten or fifteen minutes, and with admonitions to hold hands and look both ways, off they would go to the library, where under the watchful eye of dusty busts of western poets, they would read Greek and Roman myths and Shakespeare plays until three o’clock, whereupon they would repair to their homes and act them out, using their mother’s negligees for classical costumes.
Though the lady went on to achieve great academic accomplishments at a number of venerable instututions, she says that that teacher in her advanced first grade gave her the best educational experience of her life.
We had accelerated classes in Jr. High in the early 60’s, and I was tested into the fastest class. But somebody bought or time-shared into a computer for scheduling, and my 2nd year I was given several English classes and no math.
By the time I got it straightened out, I was put into the very slowest math class. They were almost a year behind and moving just painfully. The best the school could do was get me math tutoring, which was only available during band so I had to cancel that.
It was like having two detentions every day, and with several later complicating life factors later I never fully recovered.
My first grade teacher, Mrs. Schwarz, was OK but I wouldn’t really want to see her again (if she’s alive). One of my favorite teachers was a nun named Sr. Mary Louise who taught me high school composition. She was wonderful. Then about a year after I graduated she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After her operation she had to stop teaching and moved down to Kentucky to the mother house. I heard that she was in town last year for a function and I really wish I could have talked to her. They say her mind is fairly sharp but her verbal skills are terrible. But that would be OK.
can’t let that one stand when talking about teachers. And can’t blame that one on not using spell check, so it mustabeen the Sierra Nevada Porter…
Actually being in touch with people we’ve known for years is a ND “thing.” I used to go fishing with a guy I known for some 50 years… we did a lot of hell raising together.
Before I left N CA I met someone originally from LA. She was dumbfounded when I mentioned my friend. Longest known friend she had went back 6 months…
Needless to say I had a whole new appreciation of my ND connections.
My oldest friend is from when we were 4 years old. But we only see each other now about once a year. I’ve had my best friend since I was in 6th grade. But the only teachers I keep in touch with are ones I had in highschool, not grade school.
Yeah, so I hear, but I’m sans TV at this location. I’ll have to check my favorite web sites…
Out here in the boonies, some 1.5 hours NW of Fargo we’ve got an inch so far since dark. Via cell phone to Fargo an hour ago, I heard they’ve got 2 in. No wind yet. As you may know that can make quite a difference.
MS NDD is scheduled to leave Fargo tomorrow for several days of vacation at our remote location. Roads were icy in Fargo this evening… fresh snow on top of ice, at 25-30F, which is about as bad as it can get for driving. Well, rain on ice might be worse…
It seems the worst of it will be south of us.
At this point almost any change in the weather would be welcome. Other than a few hours of sunshine Monday afternoon we’ve had 8 consecutive days of overcast and intermittent fog.
I’m watching the news. Global Language Monitor just picked its phrase of the year: “Brownie, you’re doin a heck of a job” They think it will be remembered for a long time.
Listening to books never works for me. I start daydreaming and go crazy constantly rewinding. It’s weird, I can lose myself reading a book, but not listening to one.
on long, boring car trips. Though I did almost kill myself once by listening to Gilda Radner’s It’s Always Something and crying so hard at the end that I couldn’t see where I was driving.
Sorry, that’s not a good way to start the morning. I should have told about the time I was listening to Rita Rudner and was laughing so much I realized that I didn’t have any idea where I was.
Ah, well — that’s kind of touching too. I’m guessing it has more to do with repressed nervousness about my mom than what books you’ve listened to while driving!
I quote Gilda all the time and it doesn’t usually make me weep.
My stepfather had knee replacement in his late 70’s and did fine. He got several more years of good mobility out of it. My b-i-l who is 70 just had it done earlier this year and he’s back on his mountain bike. So I hope your mom does as well as those two.
Hi is anyone still up or just getting up….I cannot sleep and I should be, but I am giving up right now and trying to find something to do at this hour of the day…
So what’s happening????
I wish I could somehow interact with the booTrib while I was doing other things. Dishes, sorting papers, reading a book. I don’t know how it would work – audio/voice? But, it would be a tremendous breakthrough for productivity if I could pull it off.
I’m just hanging in until I can get cataract surgery (no I don’t have cataracts). My mom whose eyes were as bad as mine hasn’t had to wear glasses since she had her lenses replaced.
But, the eye doctor says insurance won’t pay for it as vision correction.
(thanks for the good-wishes! Maybe I’m more nervous than I thought? My stomach has been in a knot all morning)
It’s probably my fault for bring up Gilda Radner so now I will give you something else to think about:
You know what the downside of having the images on our signatures — you can immediately spot all our posts and I’m starting to get hyper-aware of just how many I have done.
I still think we’re the cool-kids now. And soon everyone will be doing the same thing and our comments will blend into the background again. But we will have started it all. (ego much?)
I think it’s like one of those tests where you either see a vase, or two demons eating a newborn kitten. It’s really a great diagnostic tool as you can imagine. The fact that it looks like a naked woman to me will no doubt amuse Indy.
Bluetooth? HA! Nothing is beyond the capacity of mr katiebird’s skill if he thinks it’s something I really want (he’ll say “NO! Bluetooth is stupid”. But, when I come home from work a week or so later it’ll be all set up for me.)
The real drawback — which I just realized is that everytime I refreshed the cafe it would have to read every comment, new and old. And that’s not really how I read the cafes. I’m imagining the frustration of this as we get up toward 100 comments (and actually long before, probably)
I wouldn’t want to tell it to read just the new ones — because I usually double-back a comment or two for context. And how could you set a preference for doing that?
I wonder if booman has given these problems any thought?
It would be even trickier if you use dynamic treaded or dynamic minimal. I don’t how programmable any of this programs are — I wonder if they be set to look for the “new” and only read those? I suspect that aren’t that sophisticated yet but that people are working on making them that way — next year in jerusalem*.
* this phrase from the passover seder has always been used in my family to mean “yeah right, some day.”
My experience with this programs — all from watching mr configure ADA computers for the library — is that they are very primitive.
Unless there’s been some groundbreaking advance in the last couple of years, we’d get all the alt tags on every add, all the urls running down the page and every comment. Everytime we refreshed.
I think the only way to control it would be if the person who developed Scoop (or some Scoop expert) developed an audio-version for just this purpose.
Ahh, that a very nice fire. We had a lovely day in our house. Four former students came by for lunch. They are all in their fourth year of university and I now feel old.
Don’t feel old yet — Jim has had students who are the children of former students.
Has he always taught 6th grade?
Nope. He’s taught 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th.
Just the same, all younger kids. I am now the same age as many of my students parents. Maybe even older than a few.
The kids who visited today are just great kids. I worked with them all for four years in Student Council and one of the girls I had in as a student for all four years. She was SC president and now wants to get her Ph.D. in English.
There was a group of kids that Jim had for 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. Quite a few of these kids (who are now in their twenties) will come by school to visit him and others who don’t live in the area any more write and email him. So you may be seeing and hearing from these students for many years to come.
I hope so.
Don’t feel old. Young people age faster than mature people. It’s a fact. Therefore, a few years in their lives are only worth a few months in yours.
Plus, it’s really nice that you keep in touch with them. I’m always happy when I see the various teachers in my life — especially now that I can talk to them adult to adult.
They still call me by my last name. We had talked about it and they just didn’t think it was right to call me Toni.
This is a group of kids I miss. They were (still are) so self-motivated and kind. I grew close to them and cried my eyes out on their graduation day.
I just recently began calling one of my teachers by her first name even though I graduated over 25 years ago AND she is less than 10 years older than me. My dad is a retired teacher/administrator and many of his student who are older than me still call him Mr. even though he tells them to use his first name. The country needs good teachers who are close to their students — I’m glad you are doing this. Feel good about it — don’t feel old.
Thanking good teachers is one of the great things you can do in life.
There’s another part of the ethic, too — the only way you can really thank those older than you that helped you when you were younger is to pass it on. Help someone younger than yourself.
Fire photo by wilderness wench.
Marshmallows by Ghostbusters.
Cajun buffalo burgers by NorthDakotaDem.
I could watch it for hours.
Still sipping from that mug? If so, this still applies.
(hic) huh?
::snort::
Okay young lady, what did I tell you — put that mug down now.
Ok, OK! — I’m sure I’m perfectly OK now.
🙂
you did your signature as retroactive and now the tipsy katiebird is gone. ::pouts::
You scared me sober!
And I barely know how to do what I did, by the time I remembered to try what you did this morning, it was too late.
But, cheer up — I really do intend to work on this mug through the weekend, you’ll see the tipsy little bird again.
My stay-up later plan is collapsing. Sniff has already gone up to bed and I think I’m going to go on up and fight him for my pillow.
Goodluck! See you tomorrow?
and I’m expecting that you’ll sleep in today since you don’t have to go to work.
(yawn)
You would think I’d be sleeping in, but routine is routine and after an hour of thrashing around, I decided to get up.
Mom’s having her permanent knee put in today.
How long does the surgery take? Are you going to be at the hospital with her? I’m terrible about that. I’d always rather just go away and come back when I can do something other than pace.
I had a brain lapse over the weekend and told them I couldn’t be there because I couldn’t get off work! I didn’t put together in my head that her surgery & my weekend fit perfectly (in a sick way). It’s like the two halves of my brain weren’t talking to each other.
I don’t mind hospitals. She’s spent a lot of time in them since we moved to Kansas (in junior high & high school she was in the hospital 3 months a year – usually 3 1-month stays).
And she’s had tons of surgery. I’m really there during the surgery for Dad. I don’t like him having to be there alone. He actually worries (he forgets that she’s the Miracle Mom). And I can distract him with my wit.
Are you going to the hospital anyway or take advantage of your mistake?
I’m a bad, bad person and I know what I’d do since I just about went nuts during mom’s quintuple bypass surgery. I’m like your father; I sit there imagining all the things that are going wrong while I just sit there.
I called them last night to tell them I could be there. And I’m glad I did. The surgery isn’t until 12:30, so I would have been wandering around for hours looking for them if I hadn’t checked.
Usually it’s scheduled for 8:30 & happens at 10:30.
I hate to get up and leave the fire, but I think that I will mosey on home so I can get up early and go to the gym tomorrow. Then I’ll have all day to finish grading papers and to play with Andrew.
Good night.
I had a nice conversation with my first grade teacher yesterday, Lurie R, she’s 98, and still sharp as a tack… and a UND Hockey fan to boot, hmmm did they beat Harvard last night?
BTW she’s a die-hard lefty. If’n she makes 100 she’ll probably through the president’s birthday card in the trash like the other die-hard democrat I knew who got a card from Reagan when he turned 100.
That’s great! I can’t believe you still get in touch with her. And its marvelous that she’s still sharp at age 98.
Yeah, I wouldn’t ever try to find my first grade teacher. She was the scariest, meanest teacher I ever had.
Mine,too. Miss Fricke,, bless her heart.
comes from an American lady of “baby boom” age. Being precocious in an age befor there were “gifted programs, she was placed in the “advanced” first grade, which in that little school in a southern town in the 50s, meant that the advanced first grade shared a classroom, and teacher, with the second grade.
The teacher’s method was this: Every morning, she would write out the state required curriculum for each grade on the blackboards.
Any student who finished both first and second grade work was dismissed for the day to go to the public library. As the teacher put it, “once you have done your schoolwork, you are free to go and learn things.”
Only the lady and her best friend, a little boy, were able to spend the day in the library. They would finish the work in ten or fifteen minutes, and with admonitions to hold hands and look both ways, off they would go to the library, where under the watchful eye of dusty busts of western poets, they would read Greek and Roman myths and Shakespeare plays until three o’clock, whereupon they would repair to their homes and act them out, using their mother’s negligees for classical costumes.
Though the lady went on to achieve great academic accomplishments at a number of venerable instututions, she says that that teacher in her advanced first grade gave her the best educational experience of her life.
that’s a great story.
We had accelerated classes in Jr. High in the early 60’s, and I was tested into the fastest class. But somebody bought or time-shared into a computer for scheduling, and my 2nd year I was given several English classes and no math.
By the time I got it straightened out, I was put into the very slowest math class. They were almost a year behind and moving just painfully. The best the school could do was get me math tutoring, which was only available during band so I had to cancel that.
It was like having two detentions every day, and with several later complicating life factors later I never fully recovered.
My first grade teacher, Mrs. Schwarz, was OK but I wouldn’t really want to see her again (if she’s alive). One of my favorite teachers was a nun named Sr. Mary Louise who taught me high school composition. She was wonderful. Then about a year after I graduated she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After her operation she had to stop teaching and moved down to Kentucky to the mother house. I heard that she was in town last year for a function and I really wish I could have talked to her. They say her mind is fairly sharp but her verbal skills are terrible. But that would be OK.
can’t let that one stand when talking about teachers. And can’t blame that one on not using spell check, so it mustabeen the Sierra Nevada Porter…
Actually being in touch with people we’ve known for years is a ND “thing.” I used to go fishing with a guy I known for some 50 years… we did a lot of hell raising together.
Before I left N CA I met someone originally from LA. She was dumbfounded when I mentioned my friend. Longest known friend she had went back 6 months…
Needless to say I had a whole new appreciation of my ND connections.
My oldest friend is from when we were 4 years old. But we only see each other now about once a year. I’ve had my best friend since I was in 6th grade. But the only teachers I keep in touch with are ones I had in highschool, not grade school.
My weatherguy just told me that parts of North and South Dakota are expecting 16 inches of snow. Brrrr. Your part?
Yeah, so I hear, but I’m sans TV at this location. I’ll have to check my favorite web sites…
Out here in the boonies, some 1.5 hours NW of Fargo we’ve got an inch so far since dark. Via cell phone to Fargo an hour ago, I heard they’ve got 2 in. No wind yet. As you may know that can make quite a difference.
MS NDD is scheduled to leave Fargo tomorrow for several days of vacation at our remote location. Roads were icy in Fargo this evening… fresh snow on top of ice, at 25-30F, which is about as bad as it can get for driving. Well, rain on ice might be worse…
It seems the worst of it will be south of us.
At this point almost any change in the weather would be welcome. Other than a few hours of sunshine Monday afternoon we’ve had 8 consecutive days of overcast and intermittent fog.
Reminds me more of N CA at this time of year.
I was just reading Firedoglake and — wow! – she points me to some rightwinger making fun of Atrios Quickies
As the first dog blog fell through the holiday cracks, I’ve posted a second, with a bonus holiday card by moi.
Could ya’ll recommend? Much obliged.
I’m watching the news. Global Language Monitor just picked its phrase of the year: “Brownie, you’re doin a heck of a job” They think it will be remembered for a long time.
Ughh. I just flew back from dkos, and oh are my arms tired. < rimshot > But I’ll spare you my bitching about events there. Oh, greetings to all!
AND THE WINNER IS. . .
BooBooks will meet on Saturday, Feb. 11.
Thanks to everyone who voted!
Wow! Thanks for everything! I can’t wait to read it.
How long are you going to be around tonight?
I’m really eager to read it, too, although I’m going to “listen” to it it first on a library tape. I just sent you an e, btw.
I’ll be around for a little bit longer tonight, off and on.
e’d you right back, already!
Listening to books never works for me. I start daydreaming and go crazy constantly rewinding. It’s weird, I can lose myself reading a book, but not listening to one.
on long, boring car trips. Though I did almost kill myself once by listening to Gilda Radner’s It’s Always Something and crying so hard at the end that I couldn’t see where I was driving.
Oh, I don’t know how you read that. Just reading your comment made my throat close up.
Sorry, that’s not a good way to start the morning. I should have told about the time I was listening to Rita Rudner and was laughing so much I realized that I didn’t have any idea where I was.
Ah, well — that’s kind of touching too. I’m guessing it has more to do with repressed nervousness about my mom than what books you’ve listened to while driving!
I quote Gilda all the time and it doesn’t usually make me weep.
My stepfather had knee replacement in his late 70’s and did fine. He got several more years of good mobility out of it. My b-i-l who is 70 just had it done earlier this year and he’s back on his mountain bike. So I hope your mom does as well as those two.
I really like that idea.
I’ve only read nonfiction since the Great Unravelling began in the 80’s. We have Zinn’s People’s History and this title looks promising too.
I’ll see if I can find it somewhere local and buy it with cash.
Nice to sit and relax by the fire.
rubber underpants
Personally, I like ‘shycat’ much better — the visual I get is much more appealing 😉
But the name change would certainly be an indication that you were casting off any pretense of shyness.
Hi is anyone still up or just getting up….I cannot sleep and I should be, but I am giving up right now and trying to find something to do at this hour of the day…
So what’s happening????
you are not still awake and reading this.
Of course, since I’ve only been up for 20 minutes, nothing is happening.
I’m up now! Move stress keeping you awake?
I wish I could somehow interact with the booTrib while I was doing other things. Dishes, sorting papers, reading a book. I don’t know how it would work – audio/voice? But, it would be a tremendous breakthrough for productivity if I could pull it off.
All you need is a wireless microphone and a program that let’s you give your computer commands.
Without my reading glasses on, your rock formation looks like a seated woman with her back to the camera, sunbathing.
Without my glasses on it looks like a blue dot on an orange blob.
I’m heading that way. My 20/20 eyesight went kaput the minute I turned 40. Either that or my arms shrunk.
Good luck with your mom’s surgery today, kb.
I’m just hanging in until I can get cataract surgery (no I don’t have cataracts). My mom whose eyes were as bad as mine hasn’t had to wear glasses since she had her lenses replaced.
But, the eye doctor says insurance won’t pay for it as vision correction.
(thanks for the good-wishes! Maybe I’m more nervous than I thought? My stomach has been in a knot all morning)
Take some deep breaths and try to relax. I’ll be sending good thoughts your mom’s way.
{{Second Nature}}
Thank you. It’s frustrating to be calm mentally and upset in the tummy. I don’t know how to self-talk my tummy.
It’s probably my fault for bring up Gilda Radner so now I will give you something else to think about:
You know what the downside of having the images on our signatures — you can immediately spot all our posts and I’m starting to get hyper-aware of just how many I have done.
I know what you mean!
yeah but I said that when it was just YOU. No it’s me!
I still think we’re the cool-kids now. And soon everyone will be doing the same thing and our comments will blend into the background again. But we will have started it all. (ego much?)
Can I be a cool kid too? How do I get mine? I have a few lovely pictures in mind…
I’ll tell you all about it at the new cafe!
(no need to bust the margins here!)
I’m sending good thoughts your mom’s way too.
{{Cabin Girl}}
Thank you. I think I’ll print this page off and take it with me to the hospital. There’s got to be some power here.
With the love and laughter of such a bevy of daughters, and especially your sunshine, she has a head start advantage on a swift recovery!
{{{DuctapeFatwa}}}
I love you so much!
as another honorary great-granddaughter!
{{{love}}}
I’m very, very honored. Thank you.
(and I’m working on that blog — it’ll be soon)
Do you need recipes yet?
Can I email you about this after I get back from the hospital this afternoon? I’ve got some ideas I want to talk over with you.
Of course.
But, I’m thinking it would be amazing if you were any older than my parents!
My Grandparents, if they were still around would all be at least 110, Great-Grandparents? Well, I can’t really say? 125 or 130?
My parents are in their 80’s. Me? 51.
Honorary Daughter maybe?
We will settle for granddaughter 😉
Don’t feel bad. I started wearing bifocals at 37. My eye doctor said I was that was the youngest he’d ever had to prescribe them.
::pats self on back for notable achievement::
::asks self WTF self thinks self is doing::
to see if I could get the same effect but, alas, without my glasses it looks like a piece of modern art with blue, white and tan swirls.
I’d say that whenever you miss the beach you could just take your glasses off and imagine it’s you but I know you don’t like to sunbathe.
I think it’s like one of those tests where you either see a vase, or two demons eating a newborn kitten. It’s really a great diagnostic tool as you can imagine. The fact that it looks like a naked woman to me will no doubt amuse Indy.
Ahhhh, the old wireless microphone trick!
(mr. . . .mister? . . . . hey, mister! do we have a wireless microphone?)
You are probably going to need a bluetooth enabled computer to pull this off.
Bluetooth? HA! Nothing is beyond the capacity of mr katiebird’s skill if he thinks it’s something I really want (he’ll say “NO! Bluetooth is stupid”. But, when I come home from work a week or so later it’ll be all set up for me.)
The real drawback — which I just realized is that everytime I refreshed the cafe it would have to read every comment, new and old. And that’s not really how I read the cafes. I’m imagining the frustration of this as we get up toward 100 comments (and actually long before, probably)
I wouldn’t want to tell it to read just the new ones — because I usually double-back a comment or two for context. And how could you set a preference for doing that?
I wonder if booman has given these problems any thought?
It would be even trickier if you use dynamic treaded or dynamic minimal. I don’t how programmable any of this programs are — I wonder if they be set to look for the “new” and only read those? I suspect that aren’t that sophisticated yet but that people are working on making them that way — next year in jerusalem*.
* this phrase from the passover seder has always been used in my family to mean “yeah right, some day.”
My experience with this programs — all from watching mr configure ADA computers for the library — is that they are very primitive.
Unless there’s been some groundbreaking advance in the last couple of years, we’d get all the alt tags on every add, all the urls running down the page and every comment. Everytime we refreshed.
I think the only way to control it would be if the person who developed Scoop (or some Scoop expert) developed an audio-version for just this purpose.
CG has opened a new cafe. Come on over there and we can litter it with our icons.
and coffee’s brewing in the new cafe.