W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday September 23, 2020
NOTE: The autumnal equinox occurred this morning, September 22 at 8:30 AM CDT.
Tuesday morning’s sunrise – final sunrise of summer 2020, my school’s parking lot, Naperville, IL. Perspective is facing east September 22, 2020 – 7:10 AM CDT
What memory of summer 2020 will makes you smile?
W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday September 16, 2020
What would you like to put behind you?
W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday August 19, 2020
What is happening in your world? Stay well, safe, and healthy.
Tuesday morning I was up early with the puppies, I glanced eastward and caught the moon rising as it was greeting the new day. The January Light is getting a bit longer each day and a few minutes earlier and the moon would have gone unseen. I am thankful for being in the right place at the right time.
Two days later the moon is obscured by dense cloud cover and it is lightly snowing painting the landscape a fresh coat of white.
It’s a school day and we are on a field trip tramping in the light snow along a planned route to highlight the Underground Railroad.
It’s gonna be a great day, I know it and I can feel it. So I’d better jump up, jump in and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, one early morning after another.
What did you notice this morning? Or yesterday
School is back in session. Tomorrow is day 4 with students and day 7 overall. It’s better with kids. Trust me.
I snapped these photos Friday as my wife and I were out for dinner. A line of thunderstorms formed north and south of us as the sun set, but they went north and south and it did not rain on us. Good thing.
School is a lot more fun with kids, so is teaching. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, clouds form when you aren’t looking, they are just there.
What has made you stop and notice, lately?
It’s Friday and I am by the lake again, but I should write, we are all by the lake. W and I joined the B and O yesterday morning. It’s a foggy Friday morning and it’s day 53 of summer break, 20 remain.
I love the lake and July is our time to be at the lake. We’ve been here almost every month, but July is the best time to be here. It’s usually warm with cool nights, though sometimes it’s very hot, and sometimes it rains, or storms. But whatever the weather being by the lake is peaceful and relaxing. It’s even better when we are ALL here. Continue reading Foggy Friday – Day 53
Saturday, the last day of June. July begins tomorrow. It’s the 26th day of summer and the 19th day since my right knee replacement.
I began writing a post Wednesday morning and never finished writing. I re-read what I wrote this morning and decided it’s easier to re-start from scratch rather than try to re-phrase what I had already written. Delete.
When I began blogging in the summer of 2010, every post began with the number of the day of summer break and a title. Hardly anyone read those posts, but I kept going and writing.
Yesterday, I read a post from Susie at Susie Lindau’s Wild Ride. I’ve been following Susie’s blog for a while and I always enjoy what she has to share. It made me re-think why I blog and what I get out of it.
Since, I my writing has improved and I’ve gained confidence as a writer. Practice helps. There have been some good posts and some not so good posts.
This summer has been a journey, much like that first summer. I had total knee replacement surgery almost three weeks ago. I am walking without pain and though I am still sore, I am getting stronger every day. Before the surgery, I had no idea what to expect and I was a little anxious. I’ve been diligent about my rehabilitation and am re-learning how to walk. Because my knees have been so bad for so long, I’d developed a way to compensate for the knee pain. With one good knee, the old way to walk has to go the way of the old knee. After the surgery, I am already looking ahead to TKR#2 – the left knee.
This morning Ivy and I enjoyed sitting outside. I sipped my coffee and Ivy alertly surveyed the yard. It was an unseasonably warm humid morning, but there was a gentle breeze to move the air. Ivy and I enjoyed being out of doors. The leaves gently rustled in the breeze, birds chirped, and I looked up to see a momma cardinal and a poppa cardinal partaking from the bird feeder. I frequently see robins and other birds and I can hear the cardinals with their distinctive call, but rarely do I see them so close. I am not a birder, but I am interested and curious. This summer I began reading a book Where the Poppies Grow by British author John Lewis-Stempel. I discovered the book while reading post on Margaret’s blog, From Pyrenees to Pennines in April and ordered the book. I saved the book for my summer convalescence. It’s the story of English soldiers and their interest in nature as they served along the Western Front in the Great War. The first several chapters describe the soldier’s birding habits. Lewis-Stempel uses excerpts from soldier’s journals and it’s quite interesting to read the descriptions of their observations of the birds, nests, and eggs. They certainly knew their birds.
It’s spring break and we are in Florida. Specifically, the Keys. It’s a favorite place of ours for spring break. Summer, of course, is a different matter.
As a teacher I get Spring Break and fortunately, for me, our children’s spring break is the same as mine.
The past three spring breaks, we’ve come here – Key Colony Beach – in the middle Keys. We’ve been here several other times as well going back to our first visit in 2002. My wife’s memories date back to her childhood. It’s where my son earned his scuba certification before his summer Boy Scout high adventure trip to the Florida Sea Base a little further east from where we are currently staying.
We booked our trip well before school started and we’ve been looking forward to coming back since last year’s trip. We were worried that the adventure would be a little different this year due to Hurricane Irma’s visit in September ’17 – six and half months ago.
Where we staying appears to be back to normal. However, there are signs everywhere that there is a new normal. The landscaping where we are staying is all new and many of the properties around us are still being repaired. Several properties have not re-opened and we discovered yesterday Bahia Honda State Park, our favorite Florida State Park, is still being restored, or at least our favorite spot – the beach along the Atlantic Ocean. Continue reading my favorite place – a photo challenge
It is Sunday morning and it’s that time of the year when we leap forward. I went to bed at a reasonable time last night, but I woke up early, earlier than I normally do on a Sunday morning. I would have preferred to stay under the covers for another hour or so of sleep, but I didn’t.
It was still dark and I looked out my bedroom window at the crescent moon rising in the eastern sky. Friday morning, I was up at the same time, though being up was a conscious choice, the sky was clear and I could see Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter ibn line with the moon. It was impressive.
It’s been over a month since I’ve posted. The late winter and early spring is always a grind. School is busy and home life is busy, too. It’s also the time in my school life when I see the hard work that my students and I have put it begin to blossom.
Several weeks ago, I was greeted with the quote below during my morning routine of the Five Minute Journal.
“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anais Nin (1903-1977) Cuban-American author
It was Presidents Day (2/19) and I planned to write that day – it was a holiday and I was off from school. But, I didn’t finish the post or really start beyond typing the quote and saving the file on my laptop.
That was almost three weeks ago. It seems like the other day, a blink in time. Continue reading indoor flora
It’s a snow day today. I am in my basement office chair listening to a new favorite band – the Avett Brothers. It’s peaceful and calm and using the morning to catch up on stuff that needs catching up on. I have a stack of papers in my school backpack that I plan to get to, but for now, at this moment, I can be present and reflect on the week behind and the week ahead.
The SNOW DAY
Yesterday the buzz in the hallways and classrooms was all about the impending snow day. There was a lot of energy flowing- the kids, the teachers, everybody. I told my students that what we started Thursday was due Monday, regardless. So far, I have four ‘My Life as a Water Molecule’ stories handed in. Pretty good considering they’ve got three more days to do it.
I was on my way home when I got the call, or rather the tweet. First my daughter’s school district and a second later my school district tweeted – no school Friday.
I’d stopped at the grocery store on the way home for food and supplies my wife had asked me to get. She’d been shopping earlier and our fridge is full. She was working on a pot of chili when it began to snow. There is no good reason to leave the house today, except to clean the driveway or play in the snow.
It’s supposed to snow all day today and snow more tomorrow and Sunday. Then, next week rain is forecast for Thursday. February in the Midwest. Spring will be here before we know it.
SPRING is on the way….
My students and I have been tracking weather and sunshine data for 37 locations across the globe ranging from Tromso, Norway to Stanley, Falkland Islands since December and 35 more locations in between. Last week, we crossed the ten hours of sunlight threshold and we are headed for equal daylight and night on the equinox March 21st. Today we have 10 Hours and 23 Minutes, even though it’s cloudy and snowing. After the snow storm, the sun will shine brightly and the sky will be clear blue. Continue reading Snow day – three things for Friday