Lovely Lizards

In 3rd grade Social Studies today we moved our focus from the people who hunted buffalo on the Great Plains to the people of the Southwest deserts. I shared the beginning of Miska Miles' Newberry Honor Book, Annie and the Old One, a touching story about a young Navajo girl who wants to prevent the death of her grandmother.

As we began to talk about life in the desert, I wore this pair of lizards, creatures of warmer climes. They are one of the many lovely pairs that I received from my cousin-in-law, Jeanne, along with sticky-note descriptions of their provenance and explaining why she no longer wears them. This note:

Dave bought me these because I love lizards and he had finally talked me out of bringing them home from the wild to keep as pets. These are too long for me.

How lucky I am that Jeanne loves lizards, that Dave bought her earrings instead of pet lizards, and that she thinks they're too long!