Tag Archives: dad

Taurus: The Bull

Tuesday, May 19, 2015, @ 11:46 pmFamily, growing up, history, Learning, Reading, Science, teaching, Writingdad, dad's birthday, education, Family, great days, history, making the days count, reading, teaching, writingClay

My dad was a Taurus. Today would have been his 82nd birthday. He passed away after a brief illness on July 20, 2009. He was 76, too young. His passing took me by surprise, though if I had been paying attention I would have known, or at the least been more prepared, more ready.

My dad and his mom - one year old - May 1934 — My dad and his mom – one year old – May 1934

It seems like just the other day, but it was almost six years ago. It was at the end of the school year and I remember the entire event unfolding in slow motion in my memory, as if it were yesterday.

A year after my dad passed away, my brothers and I escorted his cremains to France and spread his ashes where he wanted to spend eternity in the countryside of northern France. Since that summer, I’ve been on a quest to recapture and gather my history, my story – who I am, where I have been, and where I am headed. In a way, MakingtheDaysCount.org has been my journal and my travelogue. Continue reading Taurus: The Bull →

Sunday morning, quiet time

Sunday, November 24, 2013, @ 10:45 amFamily, Reading, sports, teaching, Weather, Writingdad, education, fall leaves, great days, hard work, high school football, making the days count, reading, seventh grade, teaching, Washington Panthers, Washington Strong, weatherClay

This is the best part of the day. It is the time when everyone is still asleep, the sun is rising and the day is just beginning; it is the time when I can catch up on writing and reading. Being a blogger causes me guilt – the guilt of wanting to write more often than I am able and I taking time to enjoy reading what other bloggers are writing. However, for right now, this moment I can really only write weekly. There was a time when I wrote daily. It was that first summer when I wrote a daily post about what happened during the day and the ways the day counted. There was the trip to take my dad’s cremains to France and there were the three summer camps I wrote reporting the day’s events to anxious scout parents back home. I had time, I made time, but other things didn’t get done at my blogging’s expense.

Yesterday, I was a lazy day. I needed a lazy day or I thought I needed one. Continue reading Sunday morning, quiet time →

Road Trip – Part 2: Homeward Bound

Tuesday, June 25, 2013, @ 7:51 amadventure, country, Family, growing up, history, jobs, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, travel, Weather, Writingdad, eating, education, Family, hard work, making the days count, MS, Oxford, reading, restaurants, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

It’s Tuesday morning and I’ve been in Oxford for five days; counting this morning and Friday night, really, three full days, and I do mean FULL days. Regardless, my mission is done. Julie, rather Juliana (only one ‘N’) has the internet and an iPad.

During my time, here in Oxford I have exposed her to all sorts of new experiences – e-mail, the internet, and iPad apps. Along the way, I have left her a trail of notes and left behind a notebook with screen shots, but I hope, nothing overwhelming. It has been fun to visit, talk, and share. I wish we lived closer so I could visit more often, or she could visit us. However, that is not an option so I’ll have to write, e-mail, and call maybe even face-time.
Continue reading Road Trip – Part 2: Homeward Bound →

First Day

Thursday, June 6, 2013, @ 7:54 amFamily, growing up, history, jobs, Life in General, Music, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, dad, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, Paris, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

thefirstday

Today is the first day of summer vacation. Actually, it started yesterday at noon but I was packing my room and I didn’t leave until 1:30. I could have stayed and worked longer, but I had a chiropractor appointment and I needed to be straightened out. I’ll be heading back to school and the room this morning to move my teaching stuff down the hall to my new rooms. W is going with me to help move boxes. I had forgotten how much stuff I had.

There is always a last day and after the last day there is a first day of something else, something new, a new beginning. One of the teachers in our building retired and as I was leaving yesterday, I saw her family helping her pack her car with her things. She was teary-eyed at our end of the year staff lunch and she’ll be missed, she’ll miss us, too but she’ll move on to a new beginning and someday, I’ll be there. Continue reading First Day →

Getting started

Sunday, June 2, 2013, @ 8:53 amadventure, Family, history, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Weather, WritingAmerican Battle Monuments Commission, dad, education, Family, great days, hard work, history, making the days count, Paris, patriotism, reading, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, weather, World War I, writingClay

aisnes_marne_memorial_day_trumpet2013_cropped — Memorial Day 2013 – A doughboy plays taps – Aisnes-Marne American Cemetery, Belleau, France photo courtesy of Aisnes-Marne American Cemetery Facebook page

This is a bittersweet time for me. The beginning of summer always is. It is a feeling of relief and joy and uncertainty mixed into one. This should be day 2 of summer vacation. It is day 2 of summer, meteorological summer, that is. Celestial summer will arrive just after midnight June 21^st and we’ll have our peak daylight. But, for now I have three days remaining before summer really begins for me.

We had a snow day in March and two flood days in April that threw a wrench in the school calendar and thus mine. It has been a rainy spring, which is nice because last year we had little rain and the fall fruit and harvest was dismal at best around our parts. Friday was warm and muggy, you could feel the energy in the air and Saturday was overcast with afternoon rain. We’ve been spared violent weather thankfully, but we had a spectacular lightning show last Tuesday evening and rain almost every day for the past week. Continue reading Getting started →