Category Archives: teaching

Three flags for a Wednesday

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It’s been a busy few days since I last posted. I skipped the sign of the week and a few other things. I have been at the lake for the Independence holiday weekend.

Sign of the Week

America’s 250 years since declaring our independence from the United Kingdom, pales in comparison to our mother country and almost every people across the globe besides those of us whom live in the New World. Yet, we celebrate our milestone proudly.

I bring you three flags, yes there is a third flag in the background.

Last week, I happened to drive past our town’s celebration of the America’s Independence –  Field of Honor sponsored by the Wheaton Park District. The park district does this annually, but I have never seen it in person. Wednesday evening I drove past it and turned around to learn more. I ended up sponsoring two flags of the 2000 planted in the field. I spent more than an hour wandering the field much like I did last summer in France and the Netherlands at the American Battle Monument Cemeteries.

Attempting to capture a image which does justice to the alignment of hundreds of American flags flying in the breeze is impossible, but I tried.

I was allowed to pick up the flags and planted them along the road at our lake house Friday.

I left Friday morning and was surprised by the lack of traffic on the highway as I patiently drove east, then north.

I was two hours into my drive when I remembered a blog post from my friend Dawn at Change is Hard. She had posted about a field filled with poppies which she and a friend had visited in mid-June. I commented that I drive past the field on my to our lake house. At the time I thought about driving over and back, but decided I had other things I should be doing and filed it away for another time. As I drove along, I remembered the poppy field and recalculated my route to include stopping and paying a visit.

I am glad I stopped. Words cannot describe, nor can a picture; but I tried.

The poppy filed was stunning. I’ll be passing there this evening as I head home for a doctor’s appointment and a  few other things before coming back for the canoe race. I am excited to see the poppy field in the evening sun.

Independence Day at the lake is always fun, except if you are a dog. Especially, Fern who is terrified of fireworks. She’s a hunting dog breed, but we aren’t hunters so she hasn’t been acclimated to the sounds. She’ll hide when the Guard Camp is doing live fire across the lake or during thunderstorms.

There were fireworks on the lake Friday and Saturday evening, but I chose to stay close to Fern and Nova.

Saturday morning was the day of the boat parade and my daughter had been busy creating her theme for this year’s 250th Independence Day Lake Margrethe Boat Parade.

She dressed as George Washington with her ‘troops’ riding behind. It’s her cousin and his young family as American soldiers crossing the Delaware for a sneak attack on the British at Trenton on Christmas night 1776.

The boat parade wound the shores of the lake and lasted a little over an hour before we finished and gathered for hot dogs, hamburgers, and judge’s results. I am surprised our little band of soldiers made it.

I created the video of the event with other entries, but not all of them. I set it to Ray Charles’ rendition of ‘America the Beautiful.’ Enjoy.

So there you have it, three flags (in front of the house) with three events to celebrate American independence.

It’s Wednesday and it’s already the best Wednesday this week. I’ve got a couple of chores and some packing before I head home. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the rest of the day. Making the days COUNT, one day at a time, making every moment worthwhile.

Have you ever been somewhere special and gone back to see it in a different light?

 

Sign of the Week: purpose

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the original photo, taken Thursday, 6/25 at 12:04 PM. It was a beautiful sunny day.
an updated photo taken Sunday, June 18 at 4:54 PM. It was raining.

Yesterday on the way home from Loaves and Fishes, I was listening to the Astros baseball game. They were behind 6-5 in the top of the eighth inning.

The Detroit Tigers made a pitching change which didn’t work out for them. The Astros clawed their way back into the game with a couple of hits and a little misfortune on the Tigers part. While I was listening, my mind wondered and it found its way to a book I read a more than a dozen years ago, Imperfect, an Improbable Life.

The book was about a baseball player, Jim Abbott, who was born with a partially formed right arm who taught himself to play baseball. It’s an inspiring story and I wrote about in this blogpost – Saturday Morning – late April – published April 28, 2012. And I went back to read it. As I have discovered with many older posts, my writing has changed and the links I added, no longer worked. So, I did a little revising to the links.

This morning, I was reading a blogpost from one of my favorite bloggers – Beth from I didn’t have my glasses on…. A trip through life with fingers crossed and eternal optimism. She posts almost everyday, it’s quite impressive. Beth’s posts are inspirational, funny, and thought provoking.

This morning’s post was about book lending and it took me back to the book I had read about Jim Abbott and his journey from Flint, Michigan to Yankee Stadium and beyond.

I lent that book, Imperfect: An Improbable Life, a few times before I lent it a final time. I haven’t seen that book since, or that person for that matter.

It doesn’t matter, I could (and probably should) lend more of my books and never get them back.

Beth’s post sent me on a rabbit chase of sorts where I discovered a video about Jim Abbott that was produced by ESPN last summer. I missed it, I was busy with other things. The trailer below is about how he learned t play baseball one handed.

Jim Abbott overcame an incredible amount of hardship in his life. Much of it through his own hard work and determination. But baseball, like life, is a team sport.

Nine players on the diamond to play a game.

Every player has to be all in for it to work.

before editing
after editing

Today is going to be a great day, especially when I go down a rabbit hole in time. Like every day, I have a lot to do and today is no different. I am watching the grandies in a little over an hour and as usual I am behind on the things I thought I’d get to this morning.

Rabbit holes.

So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, even when I am diving into rabbit holes.

When was the last time you dove into a rabbit hole?

NOTE: I posted this unedited versions of the sign on Sunday and only noticed the mispelling after a commenter noticed it. I went back Sunday afternoon and the error had been corrected. As always, I was reminded that some times my most effective proofreading comes AFTER I press publish.

 

W^2 – storms

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W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, June 17, 2026

a thunderstorm is heading our way – view of South Bay – Grayling, MI, June 16, 2026 3:35 PM CDT

It is that time of the year when late spring storms cross the Midwest. Yes it is still celestial spring for a few more days.  Last week’s storms spawned 11 tornadoes in Chicagoland.

Yesterday afternoon thunderstorms popped up by the lake in the afternoon and again in the evening. Neither of the storms were severe, but we did get rain and some hail and a lot booms which scared Fern.

Today severe storms will pass south of us at the lake, but will pass through home. We are keeping your fingers crossed.

a black and white version of the above photo

My brother’s visit was success and we had cool temps and very windy weather which kept us off the lake, but it was wonderful to visit and catch up in person.

There is always something to do and I have been going back in time on the blog and finding things which need fixing. When I started blogging in 2010, I was learning blogging and using WordPress. In the sixteen years since I wrote those posts, much has changed on the internet. I’ve discovered many of the images on MtDC’s older posts are not visible because the link has changed or some other reason, so I’ve been going back to restore the images and update each post – it’s time consuming, but fun to go back and realize how far I’ve come with MtDC.

When I began, I wanted to practice writing and put my words into action. One of first blog projects, after going to France with my step-mother and brothers in early June, was blogging while I was at summer camp with my son and his Boy Scout troop. I posted daily and sent an e-mail home to share. Blogging from camp  was a hit and I continued for the following two summer camps.  A form of it still happens on the troop’s website.

When I go back, I cringe at the writing, and I see how I’ve grown.  I also can see where WordPress has evolved as well.

It is also amazing to realize who far those scouts have grown, too.

Time moves quickly, especially when it is summer. Today is day nineteen of this year’s summer break and in a lot of ways I have made the days count, and in others I could have done better.

So make every minute count, jump up, jump in, and seize the day,
And let’s make sure that in every single possible way,
Today is gonna be a great day!

Making the Days COUNT, one day at a time. 

How is your weather?

W^2 – double

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W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, June 10, 2026

A double rainbow, Aurora, IL May 4, 2026 5:12 PM CST

I took these photos five weeks ago and I have every Wednesday since go by without posting them. Until today.

I captured the images after a brief thunderstorm passed through Aurora, Illinois while I was volunteering at Loaves and Fishes.

Once the thunderstorm passed through, the skies opened, the temperature dropped, and we were able to finish serving our clients for the evening.

I have never seen a double rainbow despite the fact that they aren’t considered rare, according to a quick Google search – a one in five chance!

Another view of the double rainbow, same place, same time, moments later

Rainbows are exciting to see and a double rainbow even more so, even if it’s not a rare thing.

It’s Day 12 of Summer Break and I’ve been, errr, I mean we’ve been, busy. We were at the lake last week and drove home Sunday afternoon.

I had scheduled some appointments this week and I had planned to carve away at a few of those ‘things I am going to do…’ But really, the appointments and taking of the house and yard were the big things we needed to accomplish this week.

The biggest thing was the making the decision to retire from teaching and yesterday, I put in my notice with my school district. The effective date seems far away, but I’ve had my eye on the date – June 30, 2030 – for almost three years. There were lots of factor that went in two making the decision, but this year was my 27th year of teaching. Four more years will get me close to full retirement of 35 years, and it’s time.

I am excited, and nervous, and giddy at the idea of being able to take a long weekend and explore places without sneaking a day off or writing sub plans.

Last summer, my youngest brother retired. Yes, I was envious. Before he retired he and his wife purchased an RV and have been traveling on the weekends and short vacations in Texas and a few of the western states.

This spring he called and let me know they were planning to visit the Midwest and planned to stop and visit with us at the lake for a couple of days. Last Monday, they left their home in southeast Texas and headed north. Their plan was to do a giant loop around two of the Great Lakes – Michigan and Superior before winding their way back home through Michigan’s upper peninsula, then Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, and Oklahoma before getting back home.

I am excited to see them.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true

Saturday will be here before I know it and I have a few a lot more to do’s and a couple more appointments before they arrive, so I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count one day at a time, because that’s how it works.

Have you ever seen a double rainbow?

Sign of the Week: Back to Back

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It’s Saturday and eighth day of summer break and I am feeling very relaxed and rested.

I was able to remember a few more of the promises I made about summer and acted upon a few before we left town for the lake. We arrived at the lake house very late Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. The dogs barked, but our daughter (who was already here) did not wake. We brought in the essentials before collapsing into our beds.

We fully unloaded Wednesday when we awoke to an amazing day.

We’ve been busy since. Thursday I ran to town for errands and got the fixings for dinner and thought I’d capture a few signs for this week’s post and I discovered one of the signs hadn’t changed since late April!

I laughed at this one which can be seen as you drive north along M93.
and I swallowed when I read this one… on the flip side of the first.

Friday was a lazy day. Truly, it was overcast and it rained.

yes, those are my feet…

This morning it was cloudy and wet from the overnight rain, but it has since cleared and the sunshines brightly. Which means my moments of writing are few and fleeting.

The local veterinarian always has good signs and I captured the signs below when we were here in February and the images were ‘out of date’ by the time I had time to write.

cats can be viewed driving west along M72
and dogs can be seen driving into town on the flip side…

There was snow on the ground and it was much colder than it is today. There is a breeze on the lake and it promises to warm to the mid-70s (about 24-26C). Hopefully, it will trigger more memories of other promises I made about getting a few chores done.

It’s Saturday and it is going to be a full day and as I think back to my first post at MtDC I am reminded,

This could possibility be the best day ever!
(This could possibility be the best day ever,)
And the forecast says that tomorrow will likely be a million and six times better.
So make every minute count, jump up, jump in, and seize the day,
And let’s make sure that in every single possible way,
Today is gonna be a great day!

So I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, because that’s how they come.

Do you have any promises you’ve made which are coming due?

Sign of the Week – School’s Out

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I have been driving past this sign for years. It’s next to the elementary school where my kids went and down the street from their high school. The church sponsored my son’s Cub Scout pack and the sign has been dispensing encouragement and reminders for years.

School’s out for summer and today is Day 1.

It’s a beautiful spring afternoon and I am trying to remember all the things I promised I’d do when summer came – but there are too many to remember. So, I’ll start with the lawn, then the mulch, and maybe my memory will return. Until then, I am going to have fun and stay safe. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, especially when getting started is the hardest thing to do.

What’s is a hard thing for you to get started with?

Taurus the Bull – 11 years later

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IMPORTANT – A couple of notes on today’s post….. it’s long, it’s personal, and it’s a re-post from 2015. Enjoy.

My dad was a Taurus. Today would have been his 82nd birthday. He passed away after a brief illness on July 20, 2009. He was 76, too young. His passing took me by surprise, though if I had been paying attention I would have known, or at the least been more prepared, more ready.

My dad and his mom - one year old - May 1934 My dad and his mom – one year old – May 1934

It seems like just the other day, but it was almost six years ago. It was at the end of the school year and I remember the entire event unfolding in slow motion in my memory, as if it were yesterday.

A year after my dad passed away, my brothers and I escorted his cremains to France and spread his ashes where he wanted to spend eternity in the countryside of northern France. Since that summer, I’ve been on a quest to recapture and gather my history, my story – who I am, where I have been, and where I am headed. In a way, MakingtheDaysCount.org has been my journal and my travelogue. Continue reading Taurus the Bull – 11 years later →

Sign of the Week – blessings

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It’s the third Sunday in May and I am winding down on another year of teaching. There are eight days remaining in our school year with the kiddos, then it’s summer break and another opportunity to rehearse for retirement.

Sunday May 3rd, on the way how from somewhere…. blessings > problems

I was reminded by the sign below that I have a great deal for which to be thankful. I found it a couple of weeks ago, and I found the time this morning to write about it.

A week ago, I had a flashback to my first year of blogging and I reached out to a parent of a former student from the 2010-11 school year. It was my first year of blogging and she introduced me to another blogger whom she had met the summer before. I was, and still am, thankful. My message was brief and it took several attempts to find the correct email address before the message went through without a mailer-daemon reply.

Good morning,

I am not sure if this going to work… but I’ll give it a try.

Thought of you and your son this morning as I started my day – it is the day the first Coca-Cola is served in Atlanta!

I remember your family came back from a trip to the UK with a copy of a CD by One Night Only as it wasn’t available in the US.

My son – who’s your son’s age and grade, is now a firefighter paramedic, married, and has twin boys (18 months old). How is your son? And how are you doing?

I hope all is well, peace. BTW, I am still blogging at https://makingthedayscount.org

Semper sharkus,

I received a reply and I have yet to reply, but I will before the day is done. It was great to hear of my former student’s successes since he left my class, I knew he was destined for greatness as he showed curiosity, resilience, and great sense of humor as a seventh-grade boy.

Friday afternoon, I attended a retirement celebration for three of my fellow educators who are finishing their careers and retiring this year. One of them has been at our school since it opened in 2001 and many former teachers and administrators showed up for the party. It was wonderful to see so many people I haven’t seen for several years and catch up.

One of them was a band teacher who left about the time I had Edward, or maybe it was before. But it’s been a while. As we talked, he shared how he remembered the MtDC posts I would share via Facebook. I stopped sharing my blog posts on the platform when FB labeled them spam and contrary to the rules of the platform. I never understood how it happened, but it was probably a word or phrase that got flagged, so I stopped. The entire thing had me in knots, before I let it go.

Friday evening, it was hazy and humid early in the evening. May 15, 2026, 7:36 PM CDT.

It’s true I have far more blessings than I have problems as the sign says. Sometimes I just need the reminder.

In a few weeks, my sixteenth year of blogging will roll over to seventeenth. It is hard to believe it’s been that long, but it has. I have learned a lot along the path, and I know I am a better person for my years blogging.

Today is going to be a great day, if I can only trust it. It could possibly be 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 making time to be present and patient.

What’s on your plate for the day?

W^2 – bright yellow

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W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, April 15, 2026

Yellow was my mom’s favorite color, at least I think it was. She’s been gone seven years now and there are so many questions I have that will forever go unanswered. I am going to have to go on believing that yellow was her favorite color.

Sunday morning, I looked out the kitchen window and saw an American Goldfinch, or spinus tristis, at the seed feeder. It was bright yellow and I couldn’t miss it.

I also uploaded it to a new app I discovered while watching CBS Sunday Morning before spring break. It’s called iNaturalist. The app encourages amateur scientists across the globe to share photos of living things – plants, animals, insects, and birds. I am just beginning to explore with it.

I shared the app and video with my students before we left for spring break encouraging them to be curious and full of wonder completely oblivious to the scheduled launch of Artemis II the following week.

My mom encouraged me to be curious as a child, and often in our conversations through adulthood. She’d love that I was reminded of her through seeing a spinus tristis.

It’s Wednesday and I have a full plate today. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days COUNT, one day at a time, seeing yellow is better than seeing ‘red.’

What’s a color you can’t miss?

Sign of the Week: Spring Vibes

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It is Friday after school and it has been a week of weather. Storms, wind, sunshine, hail, tornados, flurries, and shirt-sleeve weather for an afternoon.

Scullen’s sign – we need spring vibes, please!

I took the photo above last Friday after finishing my morning bus duty shepherding parents as they dropped their children off for school. It is fun duty and I have struck up a friendship with a former student’s dog who always is along for the morning ride. At first, the dog parked at me, but now she (or he) just looks at me and makes eye contact with me as they drive past into the circle drive.

I figured I would have time last weekend to put together a “Sign of the Week” post, but somehow the time slipped through my fingers and here I am a week later writing that post.

We all go through storms and somehow we end up on the other side of the storm in a better place and maybe a little stronger for the experience.

The past few months I’ve been chasing my tail and trying to keep up. I never seem to catch up, but here I am.

Last Friday afternoon, I stayed late to grade papers and sort through the study guides I had collected and review the data from the summative assessment (teacher word for final exam) I had given in science classes. My students did well and I was impressed, I had been worried that the February slump we’d all fallen into had taken a toll on their learning, but their scores showed they had recovered. My persistence, stubbornness, and belief they had learned the content was rewarded. And so were they.

It had been a stormy Friday. When I walked out, the storms had passed and the setting sun was making an appearance as the storm clouds moved out the area. It was the perfect moment and a rainbow was visible.

Friday evening after the storm passed through Scullen Middle School, Naperville, IL March 6, 2026 5:41 PM CST

It was stunning.

Really it’s been a stormy week from last Friday’s thunderstorms to Tuesday’s violent thunderstorms with a reported F3 tornado a little south of us to the windstorm that plowed through last night, it has been a week of weather.

In some ways that is life, we roll with it make the best of what comes at us. We make the best of what we get, because what we get sometimes is not within our control. We Make the Days Count, one day at a time, sometimes fighting a wind, or sometimes catching the wind.

How are you handling the weather this year?

NOTE: I am leaving the ‘snow’ on until April. The forecast calls for snow Monday morning and we are really never out of woods for the possibility of snow until Mother’s Day in May. Really.