Category Archives: Hobbies and Fun

Days 28 and 29: Errands, packing, and shooting myself in the foot

Family, Life in General, model railroads, ,

I just re-read the mess I wrote and posted early this morning…..

It was the end of the fourth full week and beginning of the fifth week of summer vacation – both Friday and Saturday were busy days. Beth left for her cousin’s funeral in Versailles and I stayed home with the kids. Both had the wrap up of VBS on Friday midday. Olivia had her final two softball games on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, and William had a final merit badge session with his counselor on Saturday afternoon; all the while, we had to finish packing for William and I to go to summer camp early Sunday morning and finish running a few errands before leaving.

I am revising it to be clearer.

Week four had come to an end and week five was just starting, Friday and Saturday were busy and overscheduled.  Beth left early Friday morning to attend her cousin’s funeral in Versailles and I stayed home with the kids. VBS was ending and the final program was midday. Olivia’s final two softball games of the season were on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, and William had a makeup merit badge session with his counselor on Saturday afternoon. All the while, I had to finish packing for summer camp and run a few errands for odds and ends both of us would need ‘up north.’

I hope that is clearer….revising is a good trait to include in your writitng repertoire…..

Continue reading Days 28 and 29: Errands, packing, and shooting myself in the foot →

Day 22: Return to normal, or whatever that is…

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I wrapped up the day with a trip into the backyard while Ivy took care of her business and looked upward into the heavens. It was a beautiful starlit night and I could see the Big Dipper plain as day. I never would have been out here at 10:30 at night if it were not for Ivy. It was an incredible sight and reminded me of how small we are relative to the larger parts of our world. I try to do the right thing but sometimes I simply get in the way. It is difficult being human. Tomorrow is Father’s day. We will go to church and celebrate somehow; it will be a family day. Continue reading Day 22: Return to normal, or whatever that is… →

Day 21: Homeward Bound

Family, Hobbies and Fun, travel, ,

It is never easy returning to America from Paris. I got up early in the morning, after staying up too late the night before and arrive at the airport by 7:30. It is going to be a long day, I doubt it will be a million and six times better than yesterday, but I am on my way home to Beth, William, Olivia, and Ivy and that is wonderful. I am excited to see them and I know they will have questions about the trip, though they have been following along and reading the blog. Traveling from east to west is always difficult because when you arrive it is only a couple of hours later than when you left and it is a nine-hour flight.  I leave at 10:30 AM Paris time and arrive in Chicago at 12:35 PM. Put in relative terms; my body thinks it is 7:35 PM and I am ready for dinner and bed, soon. Continue reading Day 21: Homeward Bound →

Day 18: Musee D’Orsay and the Tuilleries

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The labor protest assembles outside our hotel, the view from my room to the Place de Republique

What I planned for the day did not happen, but the day was well spent. It is difficult to make each day ‘a million and six times better’ than the day before, but I try.

We got a late start Tuesday, but we were all tired from Monday’s late night. We all slept late and therefore we started late. Warren had a lunch date with a client and took off early. David and Trish decided to visit Sacre Coeur in Montmartre and Julie and I took the metro to Opera to cash Travelers Checks at the American Express office. There was quite a commotion along Rue de San Martin and into Place de Republique. Before Warren left, he told me about a labor rally that was organizing in front of the hotel French labor unions are upset over a proposal to increase the retirement age from 60 to 65 and they held a march to share their concerns today. The tail end of the protest organized in front of the hotel and we watched it organize and go from a few people to many.  It clogged the streets and brought traffic to a standstill in the area. Warren reported the traffic getting back into the city was difficult as he returned from his lunch meeting. Continue reading Day 18: Musee D’Orsay and the Tuilleries →

Days 4-9: Learning, a garage sale, and household chores

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Today is day 10 of summer vacation – where have they gone? Seventy-two left, will I spend them well?

Well, I have been busy with household chores and other activities the past few days. The days have counted but not in the way of the first three days. I spent Day 4 wrestling with WordPress and finishing the Indy 500 page. I got started on Memorial Day and it I continued to work on and off and on for several days until I finished it and posted it yesterday. I suppose there is irony in the day of the post – June 6 – the sixty-sixth anniversary of the landings at Normandy in 1944. June 6, 2009 is also the day that I travelled to Oxford, Mississippi to see my dad who had taken a fall and was gravely ill lying in a hospital far away from his family. I will have more about my dad and the summer of 2009 in a future post.  Continue reading Days 4-9: Learning, a garage sale, and household chores →

Day 2: Indy 500

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William as a weatherman! Reporting live from Indianapolis May 2004.

Day 2: Sunday, May 30th, began by waking up at 3.45 and leaving the house at 4.15. I was headed to Indianapolis; today I would drive 350 miles  and the drivers I was watching would drive 500.  This would be by my eighteenth 500; I have been attending them since moving to the Midwest in 1991 and I have only missed only two. I was not going to miss this one or be late. I am always awed driving south on I-65 out of Chicago. At that early hour, the sun is rising and the fields are open and wide. I am driving through corn, soybean, and wheat territory and the slight rolling hills leave an open horizon. The sun coming up is wonderful and I am listening to my Marketplace podcasts – catching up from the hectic week. Midway between Chicago and Indianapolis, I come up a wind farm that stretches from the west to the east and is at least two or three miles thick along the interstate, perhaps more. I do not recall it from last year’s trip.

Continue reading Day 2: Indy 500 →