It has been a long while since I sat down to write a blog post. And sadly, the busyness has sidelined some of my blog reading, too. Embarrassingly it’s been more than a month since my last post. In the interim my unread email has ballooned considerably, so what have I been up to?
The end of September marked three weekends in row where I was away from home, the first in southern California, then two weekends at our lake house in Michigan.
BASEBALL
At the end of September, I took a baseball trip to Southern California. I was able to find a weekend when both the LA Dodgers and the LA Angels were in town for home games. The trip added two more stadiums to my list of baseball stadiums where I have watched a major league baseball game. I have ten more stadiums before I have seen a baseball game in every MLB city, but I’ll have to include three teams whose stadiums have changed since I watched a game in their city – Texas Rangers, San Francisco Giants, and the Atlanta Braves.
Friday, September 30 – Colorado Rockies vs. Los Angeles Dodgers (click to watch the video)
The trip to the Los Angeles area was a great trip, and there were two bonuses. First was the Elton John bubblehead at Dodger Stadium on Friday night and second the choice of a hike along the beach or in the mountains or the beach on Saturday afternoon. I chose the beach and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the pounding surf while I walked in the soft sand of the Pacific Ocean beach.
Saturday, October 1 – Texas Rangers vs. Los Angeles Angels
That was the final weekend of baseball’s regular season, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Four weeks later and there are at least three games remaining in the season, and possible five.
It’s the World Series and my team, the Houston Astros, is playing the Philadelphia Phillies. Last night the Astros tied the series 1-1 and the two team square off Monday night beginning three consecutive games in Philadelphia. I visited Philadelphia this summer as part of my epic seven-day, seven-game, six-city baseball trip and it was a fun park to watch baseball in but on Monday night the park will be full, loud, and unfriendly place for the Astros.
FALL LEAVES
Yes, it is that time again. Fall and leaf clean up. My wife and I spent the first weekend in Michigan at our lake house to do fall clean up there. Fall begins earlier in Michigan than it does at home in northern Illinois. We also had a weekend football game with our daughter at Michigan State. It was fun to be on campus, but the Spartan football team was not a match for the Ohio State Buckeye football team losing 49-20.
The plan for the first weekend was to get the yard, the garage, and the home ready for the winter by the lake, but we ran out of time and daylight on Sunday. So, I was back the following weekend to finish the job. It snowed Monday of the second weekend trip and yard was covered with snow until it melted in the morning sun.
Last weekend we were home. It was also our daughter’s fall break. I spent Saturday afternoon cutting back hostas and raking leaves before celebrating our daughter’s 20th birthday Sunday evening. Yesterday, my wife I spent Saturday afternoon cleaning up the leaves around our home and after I press publish, I’ll be back outside to do a little more yard work before focusing on school and other household chores that have, I have fallen behind on after being away for three weekends around the house.
LEARNING
It never ends. Last week marked the end of the first quarter of the school year. I have a great group of sixth graders this year and they are keeping me on my teaching game. I think I am keeping them on their learning game. It’s a fair trade.
Sixth graders are innately curious and that has been my guide since I began teaching science several years ago. At the moment, we are learning science by doing science with games. The focus is to develop their observation, inference, and reasoning skills. It is always fun helping kids learn and grow and realizing growth in myself. We will wrap up games, claims, evidence, and reasoning and be on to our light unit the following week.
So that’s where I’ve been. I have had a few blogging ideas, one for a Tuesday’s Tune and several W^2 (Wordless Wednesday) posts these past weeks but I haven’t made the time to put them together. I enjoy blogging, it’s the creativity and community that keep me going as well as the communication.
It is Sunday morning and I have an entire day to make the day count, so I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, even when there is a delay in sharing how it happened.
How is your fall going this year?
NOTE: After blogging over twelve years, I’ve realized what a treasure trove of memories I have cultivated. I’d forgotten about the mask post I’d written in 2014 or the birthday post I had written about our daughter’s twelfth birthday. I ma sure there is even more I have posted here and I full of gratitude for the community of bloggers I have.
Goodness, you have been busy! No wonder blogging has had to take a back seat. An you’re right. Reading blogs can absorb a huge amount of time – but there are so many talented wordsmiths and photographers out there. Thirty hour day, anyone?. Happy Monday, Clay!
Thank you Margaret. I do pack a lot into a week. Plus I’ve been watching baseball games on television since the playoffs began in mid-October. Sometimes, I go to bed at a ‘normal’ time, but for the most part I am watching the game and not accomplishing anything else. That ended last night when my team won the championship. I am sure moving forward, something will fill the time space, it always does. maybe this one will be a productive or healthy pursuit! take care and enjoy the fall weather. Peace.
Glad you got another couple of games in. Must be harder to get tickets now that we’re in playoff times. Michigan’s trees were so beautiful this year, I think the most beautiful we’ve seen in a long time. I know that I feel that way every year, but THIS year was phenomenal. Your lake house is very close to one of the Great Lakes? That’s awesome! Pretty there even in the winter.
I planned the trip in July after a glance at the schedule revealed I could get two games in one city in one weekend. It’s rare that that happens. I live Chicagoland, it’s rare that the White Sox and the Cubs are in town on the same weekend. In the summer, I was able to see the Astros in New York City to play the Yankees, then the Mets. that was the oddity that prompted my seven day trip. After the Astros made it to the World Series, I thought briefly about going to Houston, but decided to watch from afar. As for the lake, our place is near Grayling across from the National Guard camp. The lake is beautiful in all four seasons. Have a wonderful week and thank you for stopping in.
Goodness sounds like you’ve been a busy boy. I’ve missed seeing you around but am so glad you’ve been having fabulous adventures. Keep it up. Life is short. Buy the tickets. Take the trip.
Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt
Thank you for stopping in. Last week I pressed publish and got all wrapped up in leaf cleanup, running errands, and getting ready for the week ahead. no baseball last Sunday night and no baseball until March! Good advice. I planned a trip to Seattle for a Saturday game in May to watch the Astros play the Mariners. We had a wind storm blow through yesterday and we have leaves to pickup and all sorts of chores for the day. Stay well. Peace.