Tag Archives: Stormy Weather

Sign of the Week: Spring Vibes

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.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Contrasts

Last Wednesday, I drove through a heavy storm. As we drove west then north, the clouds became thicker and darker. The clouds opened up. I could hardly see through the windshield. I slowed to 40mph, and many cars pulled over to weather the storm. O and I, with Ivy along, were driving pick up W from wrestling camp in Wisconsin a day early. It’s been stormy – hot, humid, and muggy in the Midwest since late last week. Thursday morning we were on our way to Ohio driving through a cloudy morning on our way to a different kind of storm – the passing of a loved one.

before the rain began, shot 2
before the rain began, shot 2

My father-in-law, B’s dad, passed away after a long life filled with love for family, country, and hard work. We will miss him. The visitation was Thursday and the service was Friday. He will be in our memory forever. Continue reading Weekly Photo Challenge: Contrasts