It is Sunday morning and my last day at the lake for this trip. I’ll be heading home tomorrow morning to focus on my summer to dos. I enjoy my time by the lake, and it serves its purpose: I am rested, relaxed, and getting closer to the restoration that I need after a year of teaching.
I was up well before the rest of the house. It was a beautiful Michigan July summer morning; temperatures in the upper 40s, fog hanging close to the still mirror-like lake, and clear blue skies. The past few days began the same with highs in the low 80s. It promises to be a beautiful day.
Today is also Day 38 of summer break with thirty-six days remaining. I keep track of the days only to remind myself that summer is finite. Yesterday was the tipping point of summer. It was the point at which the first part moves into the second part or the first half changes to the second half. Summer is an arc, either way it means that I am on the downward side of the arc.
When I reflect on the arc, I always think of one of my favorite Bible quotes:
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” Ecclesiastes 3:1
or the song, Turn! Turn! Turn! by The Byrds. For every first half, there is a second half.
Friday afternoon, my wife introduced me to a local charcuterie butcher. A man who makes artisan brats or German style pork sausages. He works out of his home and had my wife not known about him, Friday night’s dinner would have been different. We purchased four packs of three varieties: Blueberry goat cheese, Cherry Habanero, and Sauerkraut and Beer. Unbeknownst to us, our daughter purchased a Cajun variety from another source. So, Friday night, I grilled all sixteen sausages. I washed it down with a friend’s home brew. For every brat, there is a beer.
Yesterday, I finished the book I was reading, The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. I really enjoyed the book because it made think about an end of the year gift I received from a couple of students on the last day of school. Below is what I wrote,
What a book. I teach sixth grade science, really, I teach kids and sometimes they learn science. What they do learn is about how to think and ask questions – they learn what scientists do – ask questions and seek to refine their questions as they learn more. I reviewed it on Good Reads when I finished.
On the last day of school, I discovered a gift bag stuffed into my mail room mailbox. Inside the gift bag were the remnants of our science workbook. Each page had been carefully ripped out and folded into a paper boat. There were hundreds of paper boats stacked on the inside the other another. There was also a gift card to Dairy Queen and taped or glued to the inside cover of the workbook was a beautifully printed quote by GK Chesterton it said, “we are all in the same boat, in a stormy sea, and we all owe each other a terrible loyalty.”
That’s what this book is about. I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did.
I also started reading a new book, Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl by Jonathan C. Slaght. I learned about the book while reading Margaret’s post on From Pyrenees to Pennines: Six Degrees of Separation: From Wintering to Harvest. I have read the first four chapters and I am all in. One the gifts of the pandemic was I had time to slowdown and pay attention to the birds who visit my yard here and at home. We have owls at home. I can hear them in the evening and at night, but I have never seen one. I am certain there are owls in the woods behind us at the lake, but I have neither heard nor seen one. For every bird, there is a call.
This morning, I watched a float plane take off and head home after a weekend trip to the lake. We saw the float plane land Friday afternoon while we were on the lake. For every arrival there is a departure.
When I first began blogging, I didn’t see how far blogging and writing would take me. It has taken me a long way from where I began. Muhammad Ali is credited with the quote I use in my banner, and he also said,
“A man who views the world the same at 50 as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.”
I am sixty and I am not wasting or counting the years or days, I am making them count. For every student, there is a teacher.
Today is going to be an amazing day in so many ways, it already is. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the days Count, one day at a time, because there is a time for everything under the sun.
What are you making time for under the sun?
So this was the post that sent you down the rabbit hole, huh? Was it the Muhammad Ali quote? Lol. It’s a pretty substantial post though, so I’m not surprised that it could lead you down the research rabbit hole. Thanks for sharing, Clay!
Thank you for stopping in and reading. I did search the Ali quote and Ecclesiastes – though I knew a paraphrase of both, but I wanted them to be precise. Though with the advent and flood of stuff on the internet, I sometimes wonder about the veracity of information that I find. How about you, that thought will sometimes add to my diversion. Life without the internet has been different, though I have my phone, it’s different and I have to be purposeful when I am using my laptop. I am taking a grad class which started last week and I needed to be on line for a zoom, so I went to the local library and zoomed and worked there last night. I live in the western suburbs of Chicago and we are blessed with resources i take for granted. Sounds like a future blog post?
Nice post, and thanks for the mention too. Today? I’ll be off to welcome a new Syrian family granted asylum here and settling in our city. Looking forward to meeting them!
Thank you and you are welcome, I learn from you. I am enjoying the book, though I didn’t read yesterday. I am driving home and I am going to listen to the book on tape part of the way home. a 6 hour drive alone is a good time to listen and learn and grow. Have a great Monday. Peace.
Oooh, a six hour drive. Not fun. Good luck!
Six hours and thirty seconds to be precise. Listened to the part of the book I had already read just to set the tone and read through chapter eight. That is a rugged part of the world and a foreign way of life, but it is interesting. Refilled my bird feeders and am watching the birds come back. Have a great Tuesday.
So you have it on audio too? That’s not a bad idea! Happy – well, let’s say Wednesday now. It soon will be.
Yes, a few years ago I subscribes so that my kids and I could listen to books we were reading – it really helped my son who is a struggling reader. I get a book credit each month and I use it when I am driving alone long distance or to and from work – my commute is about 30 minutes each way when school is in and listening to a book is far better than the news.
Great idea!
Making time for a friend today.
How awesome. and in doing so, making time for you! Have a fabulous Monday.