Tag Archives: fitness

moving purposefully

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Yesterday morning, I went for a hike at a new location, St. James Farm Forest Preserve in Warrenville, Illinois. It’s less than five miles from my house, about a ten-minute drive, and I had been there a couple of times, but I had never hiked. The parking lot was largely wide open when I arrived. Wednesday was s hot and humid, unseasonably warm HOT for mid-June which explained the parking lot.

the sun and a solid oak at St. James Farm Forest Preserve

St. James Farm and the adjacent Cantigny Park could be called an American “Downton Abbey.” Continue reading moving purposefully →

Days of Summer: Home for Week 5

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We’ve been home for the week, and it’s been glorious. The partial drought of late spring has been replaced by more seasonal rain pattern and unseasonable coolness.

We returned home late Wednesday evening wrapping up details at the lake house and driving home while it rained much of the way home, traffic was light, and we made good time on the road.

Day 30 and Thursday was time to catch up on our home. The yard had grown wild and mowed the grass twice once at the highest setting allowed and then lowering the mower one setting and gathered the clippings – two full of grass clippings. I mowed it again yesterday, Day 35, catching the grass and have one bin full of grass clippings for my effort.

It’s that time in summer when nature thrives in the warm sunlight and abundant rainfall. We are blessed.

“And summer isn’t a time. It’s a place as well. Summer is a moving creature and likes to go south for the winter.” ― Terry Pratchett, Feet of Clay

Continue reading Days of Summer: Home for Week 5 →

Friday

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four-fifths of the Troop 35’s mile swimmers – 6/29/12

I have been up for almost two and a half hours and I have yet to start writing. Yikes, where did the time go? I spent some of it reading a couple of blog posts, some of it wandering the yard and watering the plants, and I just finished working to resolve an technical issue I have (and have had) with the teacher association website I run. I have ignored the issue for a while, telling myself, I will get to it in the summer. Well, it’s summer and I am on to it. It’s probably some setting or something simple, but I haven’t been able to figure it out; I e-mailed tech support and I replied this morning. Maybe, hopefully, it’ll be resolved and then I can move on to other things I have been ignoring for a while. Continue reading Friday →

Halftime, my second half

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Today is the fortieth day of my summer vacation. Unlike Phineas and Ferb – who live world of a hundred and four days of summer vacation, mine ebbs and flows depending on the school district’s calendar. This year summer break is eighty days long, last year summer break was seventy days and the year I began Making the Days Count dot org, it was eighty-two days. Today, I am in the first half of summer vacation and when tomorrow comes, it will be the first day of the second half and the countdown to the first day of school will be on.

I am home for a few more days, O’s team won their game last night in an 18-9 win, the girls played well Continue reading Halftime, my second half →

Summer Doldrums

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The doldrums, it is the time after school has let loose and the time for camp and action. I started writing a post Saturday morning, but didn’t finish, Father’s day came and went, then Monday, too. It seems as if I am busier now than when school was in session. Trying to keep my focus has been a challenge. I find myself drifting when I should be sailing strong. Continue reading Summer Doldrums →

Winding Down

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Courtesy of FineArtAmerica.com

It is Teacher Appreciation Week and I am feeling appreciated. More importantly, I am grateful for the teachers I had who shaped me through their lessons, stories, patience, and passion. Thank you to, and in no particular order, Atlee, Guinn, Wright, Giesberg, Clark, Shand, and Gilbert. I know there were more, but it’s early and I am thinking and writing. I am also grateful to the teachers who have shaped my kid’s lives and made a difference for them.  THANK YOU and THANK YOU for being a teacher. Continue reading Winding Down →

Ben and Jerry

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There are so many excellent parts of summer, it is difficult to select, just one. So, in fairness to my taste buds, I am going to pick ice cream as one of my favorite parts of summer. I have had an ongoing love affair with ice cream since my youth. I can remember grabbing the carton and sitting down again against the bookcase and spooning it directly out of the carton. Whether it was Blue Bell (from Texas), Häagen-Dazs, Ben and Jerry’s or any other ice cream it comes right out of the carton and into my mouth. Continue reading Ben and Jerry →

Fall, leaves, and walking Ivy

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Fog hugs the ground as the sunrises on a cool morning in early October.

It has been fall for over three weeks now. The autumnal equinox has come and gone. September 22nd marked the official start of autumn in the northern hemisphere and relatively equal day and night across the globe. That day, three weeks ago, we had twelve hours and eight minutes of daylight counting the daylight between sunrise and sunset. Today, we had eleven hours and six minutes and each evening and when the sunsets, we will have even less. Fall is here and we are on our way into winter. Continue reading Fall, leaves, and walking Ivy →

Week 2: Recap and MtDC!

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Olivia with our friend Adam - on the track rooting on the Tigers!

The week went quickly. Monday, Tuesday were over before I knew it. Hump day – Wednesday arrived and passed, then Thursday and finally Friday. It was the week before Labor Day and we (me, my family, and my students) all had something to look forward to, a three-day weekend, or if you are my students a four-day weekend because we have an in-service day Tuesday.

Continue reading Week 2: Recap and MtDC! →

Day 78: A Final Saturday

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Ivy let me sleep late this morning and greeted me eagerly wagging her tail when I came downstairs. She has transitioned well from her days as a puppy. She has not had a wetting incident in quite a while. I contend these are more a function of being tuned into her needs. She is a good advocate for herself and has a special bark to let us know when she needs to go outside. However, lately her bark to go outside to check for rabbits is getting close to this bark and it is confusing. Either way, she goes outside on her tether. Sometimes I sit with her and other times I just go back inside. Continue reading Day 78: A Final Saturday →