Tag Archives: eating

Sign of the Week – ice cream

Friday, August 1, 2025, @ 5:00 amFamily, Learning, Photography, Sign of the Week, Writingeating, great days, ice cream, making the days count, Photography, writingClay

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.

What’s your favorite flavor?

Tipping point

Sunday, July 10, 2022, @ 10:48 amadventure, Family, food, Learning, Photography, Reading, Science, teaching, Teaching and Learningeating, education, Lake Margrethe, making the days count, reading, teaching, writingClay

It is Sunday morning and my last day at the lake for this trip. I’ll be heading home tomorrow morning to focus on my summer to dos. I enjoy my time by the lake, and it serves its purpose: I am rested, relaxed, and getting closer to the restoration that I need after a year of teaching.

I was up well before the rest of the house. It was a beautiful Michigan July summer morning; temperatures in the upper 40s, fog hanging close to the still mirror-like lake, and clear blue skies. The past few days began the same with highs in the low 80s. It promises to be a beautiful day.

Friday afternoon on the lake under the sun

Today is also Day 38 of summer break with thirty-six days remaining. I keep track of the days only to remind myself that summer is finite. Yesterday was the tipping point of summer. It was the point at which the first part moves into the second part or the first half changes to the second half. Summer is an arc, either way it means that I am on the downward side of the arc. Continue reading Tipping point →

W^2 – shell

Wednesday, March 2, 2022, @ 6:10 amadventure, Family, Life in General, Photography, Wordless Wednesdayeating, Family, Galveston, Gulf of Mexico, making the days count, momClay

W^2 or W squared for Wordless Wednesday, March 2, 2022

a shell and the Gulf of Mexico – Galveston, Texas. Monday, February 28, 2022 5:07 PM

This week for my W^2 post, I have a shell from Gulf coast of Texas. My brother and his wife and I took a quick trip to Galveston, Texas while I was visiting this past weekend. The trip quick three days and its purpose was visiting an aunt in hospice, visiting and some business with my stepmother, and remembering my mom, who left us on this day three years ago.

I don’t know the name of the shell or the shellfish that once called this shell home, but I call Texas home even though I have lived most of my life in northern Illinois, Texas is home and always will be.

I have been out of my classroom for the past two days, but I have had a skilled educator and friend in my room with my kiddos. I am sure they have all sorts of questions and are even fuller of wonder than they were on Friday. But that’s the way life should be.

Today is gonna be an awesome day, I know it and I can feel it, so I’d better jump up, jump in, and seize the day. And also, press publish. Making the Days Count, one day at a time, looking for wonder and sometimes finding it.

What has filled you with a sense of wonder recently? (yes, I know this is a reprise, but how can you go wrong with this one?)

Thankful, once more and always…

Thursday, November 26, 2015, @ 12:04 pmFamily, growing up, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, eating, fall in the Midwest, fall leaves, Family, great days, hard work, making the days count, ThanksgivingClay

The turkey is roasting and it smells delicious. B and O, my wife and daughter, are still out of town. They’ve loaded the car, but haven’t hit the road, yet.

I’ve alluded to it in the last several posts but haven’t been direct. B’s mother and my mother-in-law, my favorite mother-in-law, I might add, passed away a week ago Monday morning. The funeral was last Saturday. Her wake, funeral, post-funeral gathering was a beautiful tribute to a wonderful woman who led an extraordinary life. She leaves behind three children, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law, and seven grandchildren. We will miss her.

the church – built in 1850, it is magnificent and on the National Register

one of the wreaths on the church door, grandma loved lemons and yellow roses

I drove home with W, my son, Sunday afternoon. He slept, I drove thinking about the two days I had to teach my 8^th graders.

Instead, I thought of all of the parts of my life for which I have to give thanks.

I am thankful for so much. I am third.

I am thankful for my faith in God, who has sustained me over the last several years as our families have struggled with loss.

I have a wonderful family, a great wife and kids, and a great dog, too. My mom, step-mom, my brothers, my wife’s brother, sister-in-law, her sister, and all of nieces and nephews, who are strong role models for my two children and always make time for them. Continue reading Thankful, once more and always… →

Dear Mom,

Thursday, July 16, 2015, @ 9:38 pmChallenges, Family, food, growing up, jobs, Learning, Life in General, postaday, Reading, Writingeating, education, eighth grade, Family, great days, hard work, mom, reading, seventh grade, teaching, weather, writingClay

Dear Mom,

It was good to talk with you this past Sunday and great to hear your voice. I am glad you got the letter I wrote in Michigan.

I gonna sit right down and right myself a letter.... — I gonna sit right down and right myself a letter….

I write a lot about growing up on my blog. I reflect and write how growing up made me who I am, why I do what I do, and why I think the way I think. I have never taken an accounting of the balance on my blog posts between you and dad. If I had to guess at a ratio, it would be mostly dad, about 70 – 30. Abraham Lincoln said it best, or maybe wrote it:

“The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future.”

The complete quote is, “There are no accidents in my philosophy. Every effect must have its cause. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite.” From the Lincoln Nobody Knows by Richard M. Current (1958).

But, it really should be 50-50, after all I am a product of the two of you.

Every once in a while I’ll call to thank you for something or to apologize for all of the headaches and heartaches I put you through growing up, especially that period between 13 to 25. I don’t know how you did it considering since that period of time was magnified three-fold and lasted until we all grew up.

Growing up is a process and I continue to grow and mature, even at my age. When I stop learning and growing, it’ll be time.

Thank you for all that you shared with me that shaped me into who I am.

I love to cook because you love to cook. You taught me that it was okay to fail, as long as I learned from it and moved on. Your maxim of no comments until after dinner is good advice for a cook. You taught me to be open to new foods and even though we were young, we all remember Julia Child’s kidney recipe as well as Boeuf Bourguignon, Coq au Vin, S.O.S. – dad’s recipe from the Marine Corps – and so many other foods and dishes. Continue reading Dear Mom, →

Roadside beach

Monday, June 9, 2014, @ 5:22 amadventure, Cooking, Family, food, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, travel, Weather, Writingeating, education, Family, Lake Michigan, Lake Michigan sunsets, making the days count, reading, roadside stops, seventh grade, Summer Vacation, sunsets, weather, writingClay

Sometimes you just have to pull over and take time and breathe.

“The best and most beautiful things in this world cannot be seen or even heard, but must be felt with the heart.” Helen Keller (1880-1968); Author, Lecturer, Activist

sunset, Lake Michigan - eastern shore, June 8, 2014

I was up north for the weekend. I drove north Friday night and came home, reluctantly, Sunday evening. Saturday was busy. It was full of chores and full of pulling in air, something I desperately needed. Saturday afternoon, I slow-cooked a pork butt on the grill and made my famous cucumber and red onion salad, at least it’s famous to me. It tastes like summer. I sliced off some pork slathering it with BBQ sauce Continue reading Roadside beach →

Plat du Jour

Monday, January 20, 2014, @ 1:18 pmadventure, Cooking, Family, food, growing up, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, travel, Writingeating, French cooking, great days, hard work, Julia Child, making the days count, Paris, reading, weather, writingClay

It is Monday morning. Saturday has passed, Sunday, too. It’s Martin Luther King Jr’s birthday weekend and there is no school. On a normal Monday morning, I’d be up to my eyebrows in teaching ELA, but today and last Monday, and the Monday before last – school has been out. I enjoy the three- day weekends, but I get lazy and don’t accomplish what I should. However, last weekend was a three-day weekend for my students, it was not for me, the teachers had a workday and I got a lot done. Full Disclosure, though it felt like a three-day weekend.

Saturday morning's sunrise.... — Saturday morning’s sunrise….

The weather has been typical Midwest January – cold. Continue reading Plat du Jour →

Saturday morning, again

Saturday, January 11, 2014, @ 10:45 amCooking, Family, food, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Weather, Writingchildren, eating, Family, great days, reading, Sherlock Holmes, snowy days, teaching, winter weather, writingClay

Right now, it’s almost fifty degrees warmer than it was Monday morning. By some standards, it is cold but it feels rather warm. Following our freezing cold of Monday morning with the incredible wind chills, we’ve warmed up, relatively. It’s still January and there are colder days ahead; and of course there is February and March and possibilities of more cold and snow. It’s winter in the Midwest. It is the price we pay for the three other seasons.

I grew up in south Texas where summer begins in early May and ends in late September, or November depending on the year. Winter comes for a week; sometimes, for two weeks, but it is like that houseguest you are glad to take to the airport at the end of their stay. Depending on who’s telling the story (I escaped \ I was released \ I ran away) Continue reading Saturday morning, again →

Christmas

Friday, December 27, 2013, @ 12:43 pmCooking, Family, food, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, Christmas, eating, education, Family, making the days count, reading, seventh grade, teaching, Versailles, writingClay

this morning's view from my 'office' — this morning’s view from my ‘office’

It’s a wonderful morning in Illinois. The sun is shining, the sky is bright blue, and there is a blanket of snow on the ground. We, at least W and I are, are back after spending Christmas in Ohio. B and O stayed another day and will leave for Michigan sometime today. W and I will head north early Sunday morning to join them; in the meantime he and I, and Ivy of course, have the run of the house. We also have a few things to do, like study for finals (W) and grade papers (me), before we pack up and drive north.

Somehow, Christmas always catches me by surprise. It sneaks up on me, pounces, and leaves me dazed. No matter how hard I try, I never seem to be mentally, emotionally, or physically prepared for the season. Perhaps it goes back to my days working in restaurants when the Christmas season was a blur of long days and even longer nights, or maybe there is a deeper reason for my Christmas surprise. But, my restaurant days are behind me, almost twenty years behind and I still find myself lost at this time of the year. Teaching has replaced working in restaurants and there is a two week long break for Christmas. When Winter Break and Christmas do arrive, all I want to do is rest, sleep, or just enjoy downtime. There always seems there is more to do than we have time for, or places to go and visit, there never seems time to just, be, to enjoy the holiday. We have our family traditions – we put up the tree, decorate outside, and inside – B always does a wonderful job of making the home full of Christmas spirit. O loves to listen to Christmas songs and when she rides along with me, there is usually a fight over the radio, but not during December. I believe it all goes back to scarcity and choices; or how I use time, or not. I do enjoy Christmas and the entire holiday season, I just never seem to have it all together. It drove my dad nuts that I was so, so laissez-faire. It drives B crazy, too. Continue reading Christmas →

Burgers and dogs

Monday, July 29, 2013, @ 10:45 amadventure, Cooking, Family, history, Life in General, racing, Reading, sports, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Weather, Writingchildren, eating, education, Family, fishing, great days, hard work, making the days count, reading, Summer Vacation, weather, writingClay

It’s another beautiful morning by the lake. It’s quiet and everyone is still asleep, including Ivy. I have drained the coffee pot, checked e-mail, transferred photos from photo cards, played games, and done everything imaginable except start writing.

The weekend has come and gone and with it another Ausable River Canoe Marathon. It’s an epic event for the town. There have been sixty-six of them, including this year’s race. The town hosts a festival and it is a big deal. The parade is bigger than the Fourth of July parade. There is a Saturday car show, carnival rides, a craft fair with vendors, and at nine o’clock, the race begins when racers pick up their canoes and run to the river, jump in, and begin paddling to Oscoda – some 120 miles away. It’s quite an event.

We had guests this weekend. Continue reading Burgers and dogs →