Tag Archives: teaching

Midsummer’s Night Dream

canoeing with W and cousin John
canoeing with W and cousin John

Yesterday, Ivy greeted me at the bottom of the stairs when I came down. She had that look on her face that gave away where she’d been sleeping. I checked the living room chair, it was warm, and I looked at her, pointed to the chair, and looked again, sternly. She knew. I don’t think ‘my look’ is going to fix the issue, but I do believe she understood I was unhappy. I made coffee, let her out the backdoor and began the day. Yesterday morning it was sunny, warm, and muggy and Ivy and I could feel the air outside when we got the morning paper. This morning was a bit different, the weather had changed and it was cool enough to sleep with the windows open, significant benefit of living in the Midwest.  Instead of waiting for me to wake, she came upstairs to greet me at 3AM. I climbed out of bed and went downstairs with her. She wanted to go outside but at three in the morning and it being dark, very dark, I feared an encounter with a skunk – she stayed inside. I fell asleep on the couch and W woke me at 6.15 reminding me it was time to go to football camp. Ivy eagerly jumped in the backseat and rode along it’s sort of a summer tradition. She loves going for rides. When we returned the coffee was ready and it was quiet; time to read the newspaper, sip coffee, and listen to the birds call and chirp in the backyard. It is summer after all and the pace of life is slower, even at home. Last week we were up north at the cottage, where life’s pace is slow and peaceful. Continue reading Midsummer’s Night Dream

Cottage Time

Ivy WILL NOT be left behind
Ivy WILL NOT be left behind

I am at the Michigan cottage now, it has been 1600 plus miles in one week. That’s how far I driven since my trip to Mississippi and back and to the cottage last Friday morning. That’s a long way. The drive down to Mississippi didn’t seem to faze me, but the drive back took its toll. I was whacked, the following day. All I wanted to do was sleep, I would sneak off to lie down and catch a short nap, if I could. It only frustrated B because there was much to do, there always is, especially when we were packing and heading north for a week. Continue reading Cottage Time

Road Trip – Part 2: Homeward Bound

IMG_0010It’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

Day 15: two weeks in, nine more to go

day15School let out two weeks ago and I have never been tireder. Is that even a word? Actually, it is not – I checked. The correct word, or words, should be more tired. It is the comparative form of the adjective, tired. In case you are wondering the superlative form is most tired and not tiredest like you’d think. Its comparative and superlative forms are irregular so the normal rules do not apply: example small – smaller – smallest and big – bigger – biggest. I would have thought tired – tireder – tiredest, but that does not work. Oh well, I have never been MORE TIRED, seriously.

The basement isn’t going as smoothly as I thought it would. The paneling is glued to the studs with super adhesive stuff and some of the paneling has come off easily, and others have not. The job is taking much longer than I anticipated. I did find a couple of the cracks in the foundation, they were the cracks we discovered in April and they were hidden behind the paneling near the window wells. Fortunately they are small cracks and easily sealable or seemingly so. I still have a lot of work to do. Continue reading Day 15: two weeks in, nine more to go

Lazy Saturday afternoon

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Ivy and I enjoy a lazy Saturday afternoon……

It started out as reading and ended up as a nap for both of us. I recovered in time to mow the grass, but not much else.

Today is Father’s Day and it is a beautiful morning. I am working in my backyard office and B and O are sleeping late.  Like always, my trusty companion Ivy is with me. O ran the yard with her friend last night playing with glow sticks and having a great time. Summer nights, there is nothing like them. Continue reading Lazy Saturday afternoon

First Day

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

Life is Good

Summer vacation is three weeks away, a mere twelve class days, but for some reason I find myself mired in EOTSYS – End of the School Year Syndrome. Yesterday was softball and errands and we finished the day playing a fun game as a family. I did not do a darned thing having to do with school. I started to write, but busied myself with other tasks, and now I sit on the deck enjoying the morning and watching Ivy patrol the yard for squirrels. The maple trees are dropping their seeds all over the lilac bush is in bloom, and everywhere nature is working, everyone except me.

The past week presented opportunity for me to reflect and think. Most weeks do, but this week was unique. Continue reading Life is Good

Postcards from Spring Break – 2013

a warm sunny day at Bahia Honda State Park with the Atlantic in background
a warm sunny day at Bahia Honda State Park with the Atlantic in background

It has been a great day, a great week, and a great month. I just don’t know where it went. Three weeks ago, I was on a beach on a warm sunny day with the breeze in my hair. It felt like it would last forever and I guess it has. Memories of our vacation to the Keys has sustained me over the past few days – from torrential downpours to flurries in the air, it has been quite a few days.

Yesterday morning, it was raining and I went to the basement and I discovered water pouring in through a crack in the foundation. I soon realized I wouldn’t be able to keep up and woke W who jumped in to the job grudgingly, but soon embraced the task. By 5:30, I knew I had to stay home and was busy writing a quick sub plan when W’s school called the day off. An hour later, my school called off, too. So, I spent the second day of summer vacation (see a NO SNOW snow day) fighting with the water in the basement, moving furniture, bookcases, pulling up soggy carpet up and hauling it to the curb. We were lucky our water was just that, water. Other homes in the area had water coming in from the sewer (yeah, ewwwwww). Continue reading Postcards from Spring Break – 2013

Communities

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Jonas’s eyes from the cover of Son

I got up early this morning. Ivy was eager to get out and survey the yard and I ventured onto the deck after her and heard the unmistakable crunch of winter precipitation underfoot. I stepped gingerly to avoid being an early morning casualty and coaxed her back inside. By that time, the coffee had finished brewing and I could enjoy a cup while sitting on the couch with Ivy in my lap.

Vacation was great, really great, in fact amazing. It was good to get back, but being away and kicking back was what we all needed. Our last day was amazing and interesting, all at the same time and our trip home full of surprises, at least for two of us, but that is not what I awoke for this morning to write. All week long and most of last week, I have wanted to write this post, but I haven’t made time. Each day, there has been another project, task, or appointment in the way of writing and then last Saturday night another piece of the puzzle developed and I struggled with it. Continue reading Communities

Postcards from…

 

imagesIt’s Friday morning and I have already started to wonder where the time went, but I already know. Time on vacation goes much faster than real time. Even when you try to make sure time is counting or days are counting.

I remember when my dad would travel, before my parents divorced, he would send us postcards. It was great fun to get a postcard and short message in the mail from him and even after my parents divorced, he would send a postcard now and then, from where he travelled. Of course, this was before e-mail, text messages, smart phones, and Facebook or other social media sites. Postcards were the social media! I have tried to bring back the art of the postcard and send one or two, or even more from wherever I am.

A few summers back my mom sent me all the postcards we had sent her and the ones she had collected. Continue reading Postcards from…