Category Archives: travel

Sign of the Week – Warning (part two)

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It’s Sunday morning and I am starting the day in the summer office. It’s cool for the moment, but today’s forecast calls for afternoon temperatures to reach a high of 93 (34C).

The Arizona weekend began with an early Saturday morning flight to Phoenix, renting a car, grabbing a bite to eat on the recommendation of a friend before finding the right spot for my ‘signature picture’ which I share with my brothers and a few friends. It’s a silly picture, but fun.

St. Louis – July ’23
the first ‘bad picture’ Seattle – May ’23
on the way to Sunday’s game, Phoenix October ’23
I had to find the ‘right’ cactus, Arizona September ’23

My hotel was within walking distance to the stadium, and I paced myself in the heat. Chase Field has a retractable roof, the first of its kind when it opened in 1998. The roof was closed because it was 100 degrees (38C) late in the afternoon before game time.

The Astros won Saturday night’s game 1-0 (nil) and clinched a playoff berth as did the Diamondbacks with a Chicago Cubs loss. I walked home and grabbed some tacos for dinner at the hotel.

Sunday morning, I woke early and planned the day. The hotel I was staying was architecturally cool. It was constructed in the 1930s and had been a bank before being converted into a hotel and legend had it that the penthouse was once inhabited by Alfred Hitchcock.

coffee Sunday morning in the hotel lobby…an impressive Art Deco building from the 1930s

I had a breakfast date with a fellow blogger, Ingrid from Live, Laugh RV: Our Next Chapter. She and her husband were originally from Chicagoland not far from where I love before moving west, then retiring and deciding to live the RV life. Ingrid’s posts left yearning for travelling in retired RV lifestyle from one location to another while exploring and enjoying being outdoors. Her photographs were always stunning. It was wonderful to meet Ingrid in person, and we were never at loss for something to say over breakfast. After breakfast, we took an ‘ussie’ and I headed back to the hotel to pack and get ready for the last game of the season.

Ingrid and I after meeting for breakfast, October 1, 2023

On the final day of the season, all baseball games begin about the same time Sunday afternoon. I arrived when the gates opened found my seat behind the Astros dugout in hopes of seeking out my favorite player, Maurico Dubón.

Mauricio in the dugout

Continue reading Sign of the Week – Warning (part two) →

Sign of the Week – Warning (part one)

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Last week I jumped into the deep end of the pool and created a new feature for my blog. My decision might have been premature, on the way home Saturday I drove around searching for signs, I didn’t see any, but I haven’t past the church since last week and I decided to take a different path with the sign of the week post, so hang on this week’s sign is from 2023 and there is a story which goes along with it and I have been looking for a way to tell it. WARNING – this is likely to be a LONG READ and I am breaking the post into two parts.

This week’s sign comes from Arizona when I was there for MLB stadium number 28, in September 2023.

Every MLB stadium has signs like this posted around the stadium and smaller ones close to the field. In recent years, stadiums have put up netting along the infield to make being a spectator safer. It’s a good thing, but if you go to the stadium, you do have to be paying attention foul balls often make it over the net and baseballs are hard and there are no screens in the outfield to protect fans. Continue reading Sign of the Week – Warning (part one) →

Three things for a Father’s Day morning

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It’s Father’s Day and I have already gotten my gifts. We are at the lake, my daughter is upstairs sleeping after, our son is home with his family after travelling home yesterday, and the dogs are curled up sleeping. It is a quiet Sunday morning, and the lake is still, cool, and overcast.

It’s been almost sixteen years since my father died. For me Father’s Day is a quiet day best spent with family. This year, it’s special as it is my son’s first Father’s Day.

Family at the lake
This past week my son and his family visited us at the lake. It was exciting, fun, and a whirlwind having twin grandies and their parents join us at the lake for several days. It was fun hearing them babble, cry, crawl, eat, and grow.

our first family photo from last summer….
Weston and Hudson!
Weston rides Archie with O’s help
Hudson and my wife….
already printed, framed, and on display…

I remember his first visit as an infant and our daughter’s a few years later. We enjoyed their visit and celebrated several firsts – especially our first three generations photo!

Father’s Day
My daughter gave me my Father’s Day gift a few weeks ago. It is a hummingbird feeder with a camera. I opened the box this past week, installed it, and have been enjoying the feeder and its images since.

I am thankful to my blogging friend Margaret for encouraging me to be a birder with her book’s post from April 2018. I did read the book Where the Poppies Blow, and I am excited to return to Europe this summer and travel through the battlefields of northern France and the Netherlands. Also, I am thankful to the COVID lockdown for accelerating my curiosity and wonder for birds.

Sometimes we simply need a gentle push and I’ve been enjoying since. Continue reading Three things for a Father’s Day morning →

W^2 – portage

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W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, June 12, 2025

Portage means to change from one waterway to another; more specifically it means to unload one boat and transfer the goods to another boat.

During the annual canoe race in late July, the racers must navigate the Ausable River and ‘portage’ their canoes at several spots along the course. For the racers, it means they have reached a dam along the river, and they must climb out of the canoe, pull their canoe out of the river, and carry the canoe to the river below the dam. Then climb back in and continue paddling down river.

Portage is also used as a name for a city. There are five cities or towns named Portage in the United States – Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

the view from our daughters apartment – a great place to enjoy morning coffee

It also is our daughter’s new home. Last weekend we moved her from her college home to a new home in Portage, Michigan. She took a job and needed a place to live; she chose well. It’s a great apartment (much better than my first) and it has a nice patio for the dogs where they can sniff and explore. It’s also a nice place to sit and sip coffee while watching the dogs – Fern and Nova.

 

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A post shared by Clay Watkins (@makingthedayscount)

This morning finds us at the lake with our son and his family – the grandies. It’s their first visit and it’s the first time we’ve had three generations at the lake in long time. Our daughter will join us late Friday night or early Saturday morning for a full three generational photo. I can’t wait!

It’s going to be an exciting day with maybe a visit to the beach and hopefully some photos. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day or I’ll be left behind. Making the days Count, one day at a time, while watching the dogs, the grandies, or a sunset.

What are you going to watch today?

W^2 – two sunsets

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W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Lake Margrethe sunset – Saturday, April 19, 2025 8:34 PM EDT

I’ve been meaning to share the sunset photo taken Easter Eve when we were at the lake house for Easter. It was a fun weekend and great to get away with family and dogs. Our daughter met us there. She’s a two-hour drive away at college. It wasn’t until she went away to college that she fully understood the restorative benefits of a weekend drive to the lake house.

I do love a sunset and was able to find this past weekend when we were visiting for the Memorial Day Weekend.

Lake Margrethe sunset – Saturday, May 24, 2025 8:54 PM EDT

No single end of the day is the same. Never, not one.

It’s Wednesday evening, Thursday is a few hours away and there are seven more sunsets before school is finished for the summer. Making the days Count, one day at a time, enjoying a Wednesday evening thinking about sunsets for the summer and beyond.

Where do you go to watch the sunset?

Starry night

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It’s Memorial Day weekend and I am reminded I started this blog on a Memorial Day weekend fifteen years ago. Somehow, I’ve kept it going.

Along the way, I’ve gained some amazing friends all of whom I know only through Making the Days Count. I have met a few and even stayed in one’s bed and breakfast – twice.

After school let out for the weekend, I climbed in the car and drove north. A lot of folks had a similar idea and what can be a five and half hour drive stretched into a seven hour plus drive. But when I arrived, my family was here, the dogs greeted me enthusiastically, and the stars were shining brightly.

the stars at night are big and bright…..Grayling, Michigan, May 24, 2025, 12:10 AM EDT

I’ll be driving home Monday so I can teach six more days, really four, but the kiddos are in school for six more school days. School’s out Tuesday, June 3rd, and my summer break OFFICIALLY begins after noon on Wednesday, the fourth. It’s going to be a great summer.

Today is going to be a great day. I am going to continue to write and keep making the days count like I have for the past fifteen summers. Last Monday, I reminded my students that the four days next week are going to count. So, I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. Making the Days COUNT, one day at a time, looking up, looking down, looking all around.

What are seeing when you look around?

Last on the card for April – sub plans

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I am traveling this weekend. We are in Michigan for our daughter’s college graduation. I have a little extra time this morning and saw a post on another blogger’s page and thought perhaps I could dip my toe in the pool and join the party.

This post is inspired by Brian at bushboys world’s post – last on the Card April. But, I first saw it at my blogger friend, Margaret’s blog, From Pyrenees to Pennines .

Since, I am on the road, I needed to write subplans. Teachers can’t leave without leaving some sort of plan behind.

my office desk, awaiting Thursday’s sub on Wednesday evening……

I stayed late Wednesday afternoon to make sure my kids were learning, challenged, and focused while I was gone. I was the last one out of the parking lot at 6 :15 PM. I’ll be back in the classroom making the last days of the school year count on Monday. Making the Days COUNT, one day at a time, learning every day and making each day count.

How is your May starting out?

Three things for the first Sunday in March

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…and the first post of 2025. I started this post in January and didn’t finish. It happened again in February. I am going to finish it today and get on to the other things I need to finish for the weekend.

I’ve been following along on other blogs and I last month I read the sad news that another blogger I’ve followed for years has decided to stop posting. I was sad, because the thought crosses my mind from time to time. I was in late 40s when I started Making the Days Count dot org and now, I am in my early 60s, a fact I find difficult to believe. But I am here as stubborn and resolute as I was the first time I pressed ‘publish.’ I am hopeful too that my stories and posts show that I am still making my days count.

MOM DAY
Today is mom’s day. It was six years ago this morning when I learned my mom had died after a brief illness. I was talking to my brother David when he told me he needed to take a call. He called me back a few minutes later to share the sad news.

Her death wasn’t unexpected, she’d been moved to hospice weeks before she died. But six years later her passing still resonates with me.

I got my curls from her, or the bread crusts she coaxed me to eat. My mom as a child in 1938.

This morning, I was looking for a photo of her I could post, and I searched through the boxes I packed when she moved out of the house, we called home in 2028. I brought them home the summer after she died. They’ve been stacked unopened near my desk since. Continue reading Three things for the first Sunday in March →

W^2 – time flies

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W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, August 14, 2024

It is Day 72 with four remaining before it’s back to school.

Time flies.

It’s six months with three more before my son’s twins arrive, we can bearly (sic) wait. Always making the days count.

an empty plate, West Chicago, IL August 11, 2024. 1:49 PM

This past week has been a flurry of activity, and the next four days will be, too. This past weekend was our daughter-in-law’s baby shower, and we helped our son get his yard and house ready. It was a beautiful day, the yard looked wonderful, and it was a great day to celebrate the coming arrival of our first grandchildren. Exciting.

Time flies.

Today we are back to Michigan and the lake to help our daughter move into the house she and some friends have rented for her senior year.

Time flies.

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 making time, because time flies.

How has your time been flyin’?

Day 64 – dog days

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I could hear the gentle rain tapping on the roof this morning when I got up before Ivy. Yesterday the weather made a turn. It’s cooler today after several days of warm, sometimes hot, muggy stillness of the dog days of August.

Later this morning, we will be going home. It is both exciting and bittersweet.

Ivy was a puppy when I first started blogging, now she’s a senior dog, the senior dog. She doesn’t move like she once did, which is a blessing because I can remember many times trying to find her when she wandered away from the cottage and took off into the woods. We’ve learned a few things since those early days, but Fern is a lot like Ivy, but she will return when you call her. We have an Invisible Fence at home and both dogs know the boundary. At the lake we’ve been using a training collar, but that doesn’t contain either of them, especially Fern who has been known to return home with a deer leg, or two. It is bittersweet watching Ivy age, but it’s heartwarming seeing how Fern interacts with her. (NOTE – edited, last sentence added after publishing)

Fern and her deer leg from our trip here in April ’24

Continue reading Day 64 – dog days →