Wednesday, February 2, 2011

One, Two, Three, Alary *

Trumpeter Swan
image - Wikipedia

One - I like to learn something new every day, if I can.  Today, I learned from an article in this morning's Arkansas Democrat - Gazette that I have lived in ignorance of a wonderful thing that is almost next door to me (well, within 60 miles).  Around 200 trumpeter swans are currently in residence at a small lake in north central Arkansas. The swans have been coming to this private lake for almost 20 years (my ignorance is that, until today, I didn't know that), arriving with the full moon in November and leaving with the full moon in February. The article was accompanied by some wonderful photos which, of course, I cannot reproduce here.  Therefore, I  offer this YouTube video of a special report on Arkansas' trumpeter swans that was produced by television station AETN, the PBS station in central Arkansas.  The video is about 9 minutes long, but I hope you'll watch at least some of it.


Trumpeter Swans in Arkansas
Produced by AETN

Two - There are several things that push my 'hot button.'  Education or, more specifically the lack or poor quality thereof, is one of them.  Another article in the above mentioned newspaper pushed that button.  According to a front page article written by Evie Blad, more than fifty percent of the 22,342 first time students entering Arkansas' (public) institutions of higher learning in the fall of 2010 require remedial course work in at least one subject - mathematics, English, or reading.  Inquiring minds want to know... why? What in the world has happened to our educational system? Is it just in Arkansas? If the system itself is not to blame, who is?  I solicit your comments.

Three -  It's official.  With this post, since the first day of January, 2011, I have published as many posts as I did in all of 2010. 

Alary! * If you have no idea what this means, you never played a children's game that was a popular recess activity when I was in elementary school. (I know, I know -- back in the Dark Ages!)  Male readers, you are excused; this game was played exclusively by girls, as far as I know. As I remember them, the accompanying words to the game are "One, two, three, alary; four, five, six, alary; seven, eight, nine, alary; ten alary, postman." 

Tomorrow is also a day.

6 comments:

rhymeswithplague said...

What I always thought I was hearing was "one, two, three, O'Leary, four, five, six, O'Leary,..." and so forth, you know, like the lady with the cow that started the Chicago fire.

Who knew?

The swans are magnificent.

Pat - Arkansas said...

rhymeswithplague It well could have been "O'Leary." It's been a day or two since I last heard it.

Hilary said...

Love Trumpeter swans.. that's so cool.

I remember the rhyme as:

One, two, three alary
four, five, six alary
Her comes sister Mary
Sitting on a dictionary.

I'm sure there were several versions out there. :)

George said...

I'll admit that Alary* meant nothing to me, so I learned something today.
It must be amazing to see so many Trumpeter Swans in one place. I can assure you that Arkansas isn't the only state with problems with their educational system. I really don't know how kids today learn anything. It really is scary.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Another Arkansas blogger went to Heber Springs to see the Trumpeter Swans. You should jump in your car and head up there.. They are such beautiful birds.

NO--it's not just Arkansas. Our public school system is failing our children. Here in Cumberland County, TN--our kids have missed 17 days this winter due to ice/snow, with only 13 built in... They are talking about adding an hour to each day to make some of the days up... That's about 5 more minutes to each class. DUH!!!! AND--many times, they only go to school for a couple of hours and yet, they count it as an entire day. Another DUH....

The teachers' unions have ruined public education--
'making' the schools KEEP those poor teachers who are tenured... AWE---don't get me started. It's a mess.

I've near heard the rhyme.... Cute!
Hugs,
Betsy

Arkansas Patti said...

Beats me on "Alary". It was one of those words we said as kids that didn't need meaning. Like "olly olly oxenfree".
I need to visit those swans. They are new to me also. Thanks for the heads up.