W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, August 13, 2025
The Great hall – Union Station, Chicago, IL Sunday, August 10, 2025 5:10 CDT
Summer break is finished. Every year when I get to this point, this day on the calendar, and I ask myself the question,
Did I do enough?
This year, I can answer yes.
Of course there are things I didn’t do, but I did a lot.
This past summer I passed through several train stations – Paddington, Swansea, St. Pancras, Gare du Nord, Amsterdam’s Schiphol, Central, and North, and this past Sunday – Chicago’s Union Station.
Sunday, I used public transit to attend a baseball game on the southside. It was a good game and getting to the city and back was easy and efficient.
After the game, I sat in the Great Hall of Union Station waiting for my train and mind wandered and I thought of another great hall, the main hall of the Musée d’ Orsay, which was once a train station. As I sat and took in the hall, I went back to look at the photos I took when I visited Paris. There were similarities.
Musée d’ Orsay main hall, Paris, France July 17, 9:50 GMT-1
Union Station, the Great Hall, Chicago, IL August 10, 2025 5:03 PM
Musée d’ Orsay the main hall Paris, France,July 17, 2025 9:55 GMT-1
While the Musée d’ Orsay is significantly larger the two stations were built in similar time periods at a time when train travel was the only way travel long distances.
Musée d’ Orsay, Paris, France July 17, 2025 10:00 GMT-1
Union Station, Chicago, IL 5:14 CDT
I wondered what these stations might have looked like in their heydays.
Musée d’ Orsay, Paris, France July 17, 2025 10:07 GMT-1
Musée d’ Orsay, Paris, France July 17, 2025 10:07 GMT-1
I am partial to the black and white, which do you prefer?
It’s the last day of summer break and I am going to finish strong and be ready when the alarm rings early tomorrow morning. Today is going to be like the last sixty-nine days have been – AMAZING. I know it and I can feel it, so I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, especially when a last day leads to a first day.
We could not have made it very far on our Europe trip without these signs. London, Paris, and Amsterdam are HUGE cities, and they have remarkable transit systems. Chicago has a good system as well, but I don’t travel to the city often. Even with the train, subway, tram, and buses we averaged 20k steps each day on our trip.
Paris
paris
Paris
Paris
Boston
This past weekend in Boston I used Boston’s transit system and found it as easy to use as those in Europe. I was two stops from Fenway and used it to get to the airport with ease. Even still I averaged 14k steps over the weekend.
I live in a world with transit, but it is not practical from me. Last night at Loaves we had a bus drop off and pickup for a couple of clients and we have ride share clients as well, but the suburbs are car reliant. I was grateful for transit when I need it.
Next school restarts for another year, my twenty-seventh. Last night at Loaves and Fishes I ran into a fellow volunteer who’s I daughter I had in my first class in August 1999. We reconnected a few years ago when I recognized her name in the Loaves and Fishes newsletter. Since then, I’ve run into other volunteers whose kids I had or were former students. Serving others is universal and it makes our world smaller.
Today is going to be a great day, but I am going to rely on my car and my feet to get where I need to go and be. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Today could be a million and six times better than yesterday. Making the Days Count, one day at a time making time to move with a purpose.
Is there reliable transit available where you live? Do you use it?
I pass this place on my way to and from the lake house. When it is open, there is often a line to get in, sometimes the line stretches down the block and tests your resolve about whether the ‘exercise’ is worth the wait. But it’s summer and ice cream is refreshing and tasty.
It was National Ice Cream on Sunday, July 20th. We celebrated early with an ice cream treat in Paris at Berthillon on Ile St-Louis. It was delicious and there was a line to get a treat, but it was worth it as we waited patiently in the shade with other ice cream lovers on a warm Parisian Friday afternoon.
it’s the best exercise… Tasty Treat, Lake City, Michigan, July 25, 2025
It’s Friday and today is going to be an amazing day. This morning I am off to Boston to complete my bucket list at Fenway Park, three days and three baseball games, then home to finish summer and getting ready for school to restart in a couple of weeks. Where does summer break go? Making the Days Count, one day at a time, enjoying an ice cream cone while it’s summer.
W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, July 30, 2025
a monarch stops for a nibble a long the lake. Grayling, MI, Saturday July 26, 2025 6:39 PM EDT
My wife replanted the garden along the path from the driveway to the cottage this summer and the butterfly bushes are already receiving visitors. Spotted this monarch enjoy a nibble this past Saturday evening.
My late mother-in-law loved monarchs. Every time I see one, I think of her and think she’s visiting and checking on us.
Today is going to be a great day, especially when there is someone watching over me. Today could be a million and six times better than yesterday, but I am going to take it as it comes. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, looking around and paying attention to nature’s beauty – sometimes it’s a sign.
Today’s sign of the week is from the streets of Amsterdam. There are bicycles everywhere in Amsterdam, everywhere. My wife warned me to pay attention to the bike lane and I came close a couple of times, but I learned quickly – stay out of the bike lane and look left AND right when crossing it.
the sign reads, Moped not Allowed, but it really means you are in the bike lane, move to the right.
I had only been to Amsterdam once before this trip, it was when I was four in 1966. My dad had taken a six-month long assignment and moved us to Paris. My memory of our time in Europe is pretty limited. I do remember we flew from Houston to Amsterdam on KLM with a stop in Montreal. Somewhere I may have slides my dad took from our time in Europe.
Amsterdam is much easier to navigate than Paris or London. Amsterdam is smaller and one-eighth the size of Paris in terms of population but the trams and metro are easy to use. Also, there are fewer automobiles. The city is very walkable especially when you pay attention to the bike lanes.
Below is a clip from Ted Lasso, season 3 when Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) discovers the bike lane.
Though our time in Amsterdam was short – three full days. We packed in quite a bit, much of it I am still processing.
But I did learn, be careful in the bike lane.
Today is going to be an amazing day. I am on the move again, this time to the lake and back Sunday. There are twenty days remaining in summer break and I am going to make and each an every one of them count, just as I have with the previous fifty. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, reading the signs and being careful.
W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, July 23, 2025
This is going to be the last post from Europe. It has been fun and we’ve seen and visited some amazing places in London, Swansea, Paris, and Amsterdam and places in between.
Me in a selfie with Van Gogh’s ‘Almond Blossoms’ in the background
We visited five art museums while we were exploring Europe. I saw lots of paintings, drawings, and I saw several of the thirty-five known Vincent Van Gogh self portraits. Neither of us created the selfie, it was around long before either of us. We just did it. Many years ago my friends ribbed me for the one-eyed selfie I would use with my social media posts.
One of the things I learned while wandering the museums and looking at paintings is that often the artist wasn’t painting a painting, they were practicing their craft. Yesterday, we arrived at the Vincent Van Gogh Museum to see the collection. I learned even more about Van Gogh while we toured the collection, then I found this – Vincent Van Gogh and the self portrait.
Seen at the Musee D’Orsay in Paris… Tuesday, July 15th
Seen at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, July 20th
Sunday, while touring the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, I was feeling a little silly and thought I’d capture me with Vincent Van Gogh so I took a selfie, with a selfie. I did it again yesterday.
The first selfie with a selfie
My second selfie with a selfie
Self-portrait, Vincent Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, July 22nd
It’s the one-eyed selfie! Actually, the photos are edited to show more of Van Gogh’s work than the original photo.
“The only time I feel alive is when I’m painting.”
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890)
I read the quote in the Van Gogh Museum and it made me think. Really think. It was sad really, he was brilliant, creative, and deeply troubled. There are so many of us who look like we’ve got it together. I think sometimes making the days count helps me focus on the times when my days were a minus, not a plus.
These past couple of weeks have been awesome. Today we fly home, tomorrow morning I will awake bright-eyed and bushy tailed at three or four in the morning and spend a couple of days getting over the jet lag of a seven hour time change.
Today is going to be an amazing day, so I’d better jump up, jump in and seize the day. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, unpacking, and putting away my suitcase. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, reflecting on being better every day, even a little bit.
This week’s sign comes from the Swansea train station. It’s where our train ride from London terminated for us. I noticed the signage everywhere was in two languages – Welsh on top and English below – when stopped in Cardiff, the Welsh capital. We asked our seatmate, who joined us in Reading and was on here way home in Swansea for a long weekend if she spoke Welsh. She replied,
“No, I don’t. Only a few words I learned in school.”
Later, I asked our Uber driver if he spoke and the answer was also, no.
It made me think of Juliana, she was Scottish and born in Aruba, her older brother was born in Mexico. Her father was much like her husband and my father, a petroleum engineer working for oil companies. She had strong family roots in Wales.
One of the lessons I want my kids to have learned from me is to ask more questions before it is too late. I guess we always think we have more time, but we never know. This morning, I was sad to read a person I know through my son, passed away. He was 66, far too young.
Juliana would have been 91 this past Sunday. We held her celebration Saturday and we were able to gather, though not as many as I had hoped. It was a wonderful gathering and I learned why she wanted her ashes dispersed where she did.
Once we arrived, we made introductions and sat sharing our stories of Juliana. Lachlan, her nephew, suggested a spot over looking the Bristol Channel on the Mumbles and we walked along the path overlooking the Bristol Channel.
It was solemn reunion of our only gathering some fifty years before.
As we walked along the path, we discovered ‘cat prints’ in the cement path. it was our sign, this was her place. Juliana adored her cats. In the time I knew her she had several cats, Lilac, Sambo, Porgy and Bess, and her last cat, Zorro a black Manx cat who kept her company.
Cat prints in the path mark Juliana’s spot…. I dropped a pin to share with those not present.
The view along the path overlooking the Bristol Channel
Christina (my brother’s wife), my brother Warren, Lachlan, his wife Kim, their daughter Lindsay, my wife, and me.
A cove along the rocky shoreline – Bristol Channel
Every one of us took a turn with words of love and celebration of all she had taught us and dispersed her ashes. It was a beautiful day. Afterwards we gathered for dinner before departing.
The sign in the train station reminded me of a time many years ago. It was after Juliana had moved to an assisted living facility. It was late February 2020, a few weeks or so before the COVID lockdown which would further rob her of her mobility and keep her from returning to her home in Oxford.
I was visiting her to check with her and her doctors to hear her about her progress. It was after dinner and she wanted to watch television, but there was nothing on. I suggested we watch ‘The Crown.’ She had heard of it but had never seen it, so we watched the first two episodes. In between episode, she opened up and shared she enjoyed the show and commented how it was quite accurate. She talked about the queen, being her ‘Queen.’
The next evening I came by with dinner and afterwards she asked if we could watch another episode, so we watched two more before bot of us were nodding off.
Last summer, I had a flashback when I was re-watching the series. I remembered our conversation from that night as she recalled her youth – Juliana was 18 when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned and remembered the events of the time including the content of the last we episode we watched. It was about the killer fog of December 1952.
A few years later, I watched the episode entitled ’Aberfan’ and during our next phone call, I made a point to bring it up. She shared so much and I had so many questions. She asked if there was a way she could watch the episode or the series and I told her the next time I Was down, I’d try to help her see it. Sadly, the technology was too difficult for her to grasp and we never were able to enable her to stream on her own.
Cyrmu is Welsh for Wales. It’s also part of the title of another episode in ‘The Crown,’ the episode is titled ‘Tywysog Cyrmu’ which means Prince of Wales.
I miss her stories and talking with her. She was with us this past Saturday and her memory will always be with us.
It’s Friday and our last full day in Paris. Tomorrow, it’s off to Amsterdam by train and a drive to the countryside and back before three full days in Amsterdam then flying home Wednesday and back to responsibility. It’s been a busy week and I’ve been micro-blogging at Instagram @makingthedayscount check it out for short busts of our trip.
Today is going to be an amazing day, full of new discoveries and experiences. So I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, looking for signs to make think.
Is there a sign that made you think, or took you back to another time?
W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, July 16, 2025
I can’t believe it’s Wednesday, again. A week ago I was stumbling around on a couple of hours of jet lagged sleep through London. Since then we’ve been around London, traveled by train and car to Swansea and back, taken the second to last train to Paris, and tromped around the French countryside and several iconic places around Paris.
A lamppost on the Pont Neuf, Il de la Cite, Paris, France, July 15, 2025 9:21 PM
We are having fun and getting a lot of walking in. The weather has been beautiful.
I am usually the early riser in the family, but this morning I awoke to an empty apartment. My wife had gotten the jump on me and gotten out while I slept late, much later than I usually do.
fifteen minutes later, Il de la Cite, Paris, France, July 15, 2025 9:36 PM
When the body speaks, I should listen.
Last night after a full day of touring, we rode the Metro back to where we are staying. We stopped to sit on one of the benches along the Pont Neuf. It was peaceful even with the traffic below on the river, the busy road connecting the Rive Droite with Rive Gauch, and the pedestrians going home, going out, or simply enjoying a moment outside as the day came to a finish.
It had been a full day.
We’ve done so much since my last post Sunday night. Monday we traveled to the countryside and explored then Tuesday we explored the city. I have so much to share, but I need time to process everything – moments and images.
Today is going to be another full day, I know it and I can feel it. Today could be a million and six times better than yesterday, but I have to jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the days COUNT, one day at a time, especially when I am on vacation.
How do you ‘vacation?’ Full throttle, slow and easy, or as it goes?
It’s Friday and this week’s sign comes from the tunnel connecting terminal 1 at O”Hare International Airport to the C gates. It was at the bottom of the escalator after my wife and I descended. Yes, we fly for LOVE.
LOVE – pass it on. O’Hare International Airport, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, 3:16 PM
There was another at Pass It On billboard at the opposite end of the tunnel, buy I was already on the up escalator when I noticed it.
Our flight left a bit late, but we arrived on time Wednesday morning.
Other than the hiccup of losing my credit card in the taxi when we arrived at the hotel and then being re-united hours later when Roy came back to the hotel and returned my credit card our first two days in London have been great.
The rising moon as we get closer to Europe.
Wednesday
I remember traveling from the states to Europe when I was young. My dad always told me no naps, just do things and then go to bed early. Once we had the credit card sorted out, we were on the move.
We did mostly tourist stuff. The Tower of London and a boat ride on the Thames back to Westminster and the tube back to our hotel was what was on the itinerary for the day and dinner at Dishoom.
We started at the Underground station in South Kensington near our hotel.
Fifty years ago, when I was here with my stepmother, Juliana she took us to the Tower of London. She was so patient with us. I can’t imagine what it might have been like for her; going from no kids to having three boys aged 13-12-10. I know we weren’t an easy group, but she handled us like a pro. We were blessed to have her.
When my wife and I were planning she asked me what I ‘wanted’ to see and the Tower of London and a picture with one of the Yeoman Warders as on my list.
the three of us – London 1975 – Warren, David, a Tower Guard, and me
Me, fifty years later and a different Yeoman Warder…
And I wanted the see the poppy exhibit. It was beautiful.
We finished with dinner at Dishoom, an amazing Indian restaurant my wife has raved about since her trip with her sister almost ten years ago. It was delicious.
Once we go home, I followed my dad’s advice. I was out.
Thursday
We had breakfast at the hotel and planned our day. We decided to visit the Westminster are and take in the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, then walk to Buckingham Palace. We figured we would decide what was next, later.
The underground leaves the South Kensington station.
After many trips to England in the 70s and 80s I had never ridden in a double decker bus until today
We arrived a little bit past half past nine, but the sundial was off due to daily savings time. Nature knows the time, always.
Westminster was bustling with activity and we walked with the crowd to see Parliament and Big Ben, then set out to visit the Westminster Cathedral. But Big Ben must be taken in from afar.
Big Ben was cooperative for my ‘selfie’
Afterwards, we walked to the Buxton Memorial Fountain. But alas it was closed for renovations. However, we found a lovely bench along the Thames in the shade and discovered a New World import or hybrid. The leaves are similar to the maple and the tree had a spiny pod dangling from the branches. We were curious so we searched it on the internet. The source of the tree is unknown, but botanists believe it is a cross between the Oriental Plane and the American Sycamore and soured by the great Colombian Exchange. Click here to read more!
The London Plane trees provided lovely shade for us the entire afternoon.
We decided to forgo a walk and took a bus, my first ever trip on a double decker bus – we rode up top. However, up top is quite warm and there is little air flow on a warm summer day – temperatures in the late morning were already hovering in the upper 80d (30C+).
We arrived closer to Buckingham Palace and began walking toward the palace until we came to Royal Mews. My wife decided she wanted to go in and I passed and planted myself in the shade opposite the Royal Mews. It was fun people watching while she enjoyed the tour. We both enjoyed our time!
We were already very close to the palace and walked toward the Queen Victoria Memorial and fountain, alas it too was turned off.
It was lovely to walk around the in the sunshine and we found a lovely spot in the shade before I snapped an ‘Susie’ before we headed off on our next stop – shoe shopping.
You can deduce whom is who…
The roads were clogged and most of our trip was to the shoe shop, by we walked along a tree-lined road – yes, London Plane trees provided shade for entirety of our walk.
It took the two of us a while to arrive at the shoe store via bus and foot.
After the shoe store, my wife took me to a a place she and her sister had eaten for a late afternoon bite. It was delicious.
A shared plate – salmon with dill sauce, roasted cabbage, eggplant with yogurt, and a turmeric tossed roasted cauliflower
the view from my seat, a beautiful sunny day
After exploring and shopping (me patiently waiting) we were spent and returned to the hotel to regroup.
It was an easy ride home, though I panicked at one stop and thought i had misread the map, but I didn’t. London transport is as easy as I remember it.
After re-grouping and freshening up, we ventured out for a late night bite to eat, sorry no photos.
Yes, we fly for LOVE!
It’s Friday and our last full day in London. Today is going to be an amazing day, possibly a million and six times better than yesterday so, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, walking back in time in the present, and remembering why I am here.
Happy Independence Day! Or if you are not from the United States, Happy Fourth of July.
I found this week’s sign on the way home from volunteering at Loaves and Fishes this past Monday night. Monday night is a regular night for me and I look forward to seeing some of the regular clients who rely on us to help them make ends meet. I know I am making a difference and helping those who need help get the help they need.
Tuesday morning I got the Quote of the Day from the folks at Pass It On dot org.
I came across the organization (The Foundation for a Better Life) years before the blog and I remember writing about them in the infancy days of Making the Days Count dot org. In June 2010, I wrote a post and remember talking to my mom about it. A couple of weeks while repairing a blog posts from the early days (first month) of the blog I came across this post…. Day 25 – Patience. And I read it again. I finished repairing a few more – the posts with broken links or photos that didn’t display. In those infancy days, I didn’t have many readers other than my mom or my wife. I came across a comment from my mom and it was good to hear her voice. I miss it very much.
Sometimes you need a good sign to get you thinking. I hope you see a sign, or find one, today that speaks to you and reminds you, that you are doing a right things with your life.
Today is going to be an amazing day, I know it and I can feel it. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, especially special days like today.
