It has been a week of summer so far, six days; some short, some long, but six days nonetheless. The kid’s summer started Wednesday afternoon and Thursday we headed off to visit grandma and grandpa in Ohio. Continue reading Alice’s Dairy Bar
I remember it like it was yesterday. I can close my eyes and see my classmates around me crossing the stage as we waited in the lunchroom for the ceremony to be over so we could bust out the door and summer could start. That was thirty-six years ago and last night I sat in the gym watching the same event from my parent’s eyes, except I wasn’t crossing the stage, William was. Continue reading Next stop, High School
Books can really slow me down. I have been on a tear to read adolescent literature since moving to Language Arts a few years ago. Before then I read books about social studies – books for big people, such as The History of the World in Six Glasses or Salt: A World History and it would take me all summer or a semester to read them. Now, I read, on average, a book every two weeks, not bad. However, I have a more ambitious summer goal – to read twenty books. That is a book every four days, and that means I am going to be reading a lot! I know I am going to make somebody unhappy! Continue reading Summer Reading
Several years ago, I left a job after over twelve years. I remember that first day after I resigned, I decided to take a week off and wait for my new job to begin. I was uncomfortable, bitter, and out of sorts – feeling as though I had lost something, but not knowing exactly what it was. I had a similar feeling yesterday at the end of the day. Friday was a short day, but it counted as a workday and an attendance day for the students. I was finished with all of my duties as a teacher, cleaned my room, filed my grades and I was on my way home. I was exhausted and spent. The previous weeks had been frenetic at work and I had put off things at home to finish things at school, and vice versa. I was mess. Continue reading What now?
It is a beautiful morning and I’m sitting on the deck and enjoying hearing the birds chirp and call each other, the wind rustle the leaves, and watching Ivy inspect the yard to keep us safe from critters of all sorts. It has been a delightful time though I’ve frittered away some prime writing time by thinking, reading, and looking back. Yesterday, William and I went to the Indy 500. It is a family tradition – started by Beth through Beth’s dad, and continued through her brother, Tim. I’ve been going since 1991, and William, since 2004. It was a great race but an even greater day – father and son together enjoying time together and a tradition they share. It was a good time. But, I want to write about today and what it means. Continue reading Memorial Day 2012
Two years ago, actually 104 weeks ago to be precise, I sat down and started writing Making the Days Count. It started as a dot com but, it has morphed into a dot org, however you can get there either way. You can even get there with dot info and dot net too, but it doesn’t matter how you got here, it is that you are here and reading, following along, thank you. It started because the previous school year had been crappy, from the beginning until the very bitter end in 2010. New curriculum, new schedule, crappy teaching (yes, I was crappy, very crappy), and some students who fought me every inch of the way made it even crappier. There were some excellent students that year, but they got lost in a year when I always behind, always unprepared, and contemplating whether I was cut out to be a teacher, or not. Continue reading Blogoversary, really
It had been a long week, made even longer by the antics of a handful of students and I was looking forward to getting home Friday afternoon, but it was evening when I got home Friday night. William was mowing the grass, Beth was working in the yard weeding, and I felt guilty for not wanting to jump in and help. But, not guilty enough to jump in and help. Besides, I figured I’d get busy on Saturday and do some chores, like the gutters – which are full of maple, elm, and other tree seeds. Continue reading Late morning, Saturday…
Spring has officially sprung. Olivia and I can attest we both woke up early this morning seeking relief from the severely stuffed up noses. Yesterday, I was stuffed up, but nothing like this morning and O went to bed last night tired, whiny, and complaining about her itching eyes and stuffed up nose. Continue reading Spring Sightings
Over a year ago, I wrote ‘The List.’ It was blog post about winning the lottery, or more specifically, what I would do if I won the lottery. With tonight’s jackpot listed as $540 million or a half billion, it was hard not to think about it as I drove home, yesterday. I mentioned to grandpa and grandma that a lot of good could be done with that much money and it could. So, I decided to dust off last year’s post, revise it, and repost. Continue reading The List – Part 2
Sunday’s post was brief, but it cut into my morning time. I usually try to get up before anyone else and enjoy the quiet time before the day begins, but yesterday Olivia got up with me, and grandma and grandpa were already up and moving. By the time I was writing, the cottage was in full motion with everyone moving for the morning. I started to write but, realized it was futile to continue and stopped, vowing to finish at night when everyone was spent from the day. But, I forgot I was one of the ‘everyone,’ and fell asleep on the couch, reading one of my spring break books – Scat by Carl Hiaasen. Even Ivy had gone upstairs by the time I woke up at 1 AM and stumbled upstairs and climbed sleepily into bed. Needless to say, I didn’t write last night. Continue reading Spring Break Part II