In my previous post, I noted my family’s move to the woods when I was eight years old. Our house was just two doors away from the neighborhood elementary school, and I went there for three years.
Unfortunately, I quickly ran into the same problem I experienced at my previous school. I was a smart little kid, but the classes were s-l-o-w-w-w.
When I was in my second year at that previous school, I missed two weeks of school because I had pneumonia. Although the third grade teacher thought it would take ages for me to catch up, I made up the work in a few days.
Then came fourth grade. I was in a just-constructed school with floor-to-ceiling windows and it was surrounded by tall trees, perfect for this nature-loving child. I spent a lot of class time looking out of those windows and filling my notebooks with sketches that simply couldn’t wait for art class.
Poor Mrs. G. She was the fourth-grade math teacher, and she took my inattention personally. In front of the entire class, she’d launch into blistering tirades, complete with predictions of a dire future for daydreaming Martha.
She was right.
My weak math skills turned high school chemistry into a nightmare, and that was the end of my desire to continue with science classes. Besides, I was more interested in loading up on art classes.
During my high school art class binge, I was introduced to professional-grade cameras, and that’s what got me started in photography.
And, here’s the fun part: During a 2018 visit to Pennsylvania, I did a lot of practicing with my just-purchased Nikon D850 camera. My favorite place to practice? That elementary school with the floor-to-ceiling windows. Just a few steps away from the classroom of endless boredom during math class, I found the mushrooms shown above.
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