Tag Archives: Summer Vacation

Blame the dog

Sunday, September 8, 2013, @ 9:14 amadventure, Family, jobs, Life in General, pets, Reading, teaching, Writingchildren, education, Family, Grayling, great days, hard work, high school football, making the days count, pets, reading, seventh grade, softball, sports, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

I am up north for the weekend. It’ll be the last weekend for a while and I enjoyed the sunset last night and the morning view with my coffee for one last time this summer.

I drove up by myself Friday after school. B and the kids stayed home; W had a football game Friday night and again Saturday morning along with loads of homework, I do hope he is making a dent in it, and O had softball Friday and Saturday, too. It’s strange being here alone. I had a long list of things to do and I added to it as I walked around yesterday. The boats are out and stored for the winter, the dock and boat lifts, too. The patio furniture is in the garage and I have shuffled the organization from summer to winter mode with snow shovels and the snow blower ready for action when we come back this winter. I have a few more chores before I close up and leave this afternoon and I am debating about leaving the vents open and scheduling one more trip before winter sets in to close them. Continue reading Blame the dog →

Summer’s fading

Saturday, August 3, 2013, @ 8:28 amadventure, Family, Life in General, pets, Reading, teaching, travel, Weather, Writingchildren, Family, great days, Harbor Springs, making the days count, Petoskey, Pure Michigan, reading, Summer Vacation, sunsets, weather, writingClay

Yesterday morning I awoke early, too early, around four thirty, it was dark, the kind of darkness that is complete except for the light that spills over into our yard from our neighbor’s security light. I looked out onto the lake and it was dark almost black it was such deep blue. The stars covered by a blanket of invisible clouds completed the late night and early morning darkness.

Ivy was up before me, in fact, she was the reason I was up as early as I was, she was concerned with something in the yard, her yard, and letting me know in her own way, loudly. I let her out and lay down on the couch to read, or try to read. After she had searched the yard, I let her inside and she jumped up and nested between my legs at the foot of the couch, rested her head on my calf, and fell back to sleep. It wasn’t long before I joined her and drifting off with the book open on my chest.

That was how my Friday morning began, slowly. Continue reading Summer’s fading →

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 →

Michigan weather

Wednesday, July 24, 2013, @ 9:47 amadventure, Family, jobs, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, Family, Front Street Traverse City, hard work, making the days count, reading, Summer Vacation, teaching, Traverse City, weather, writingClay

I love northern Michigan weather. At home, when there’s a cool night and warm sunny day, B and I will look at each other, sigh and say “It’s Michigan weather.” Monday was warm, not hot, and it got windier as the day wore on. Monday night, really Tuesday morning, thunderstorms rolled through and brought with them a cloudy cool Tuesday morning. I actually slept late waking just before nine and made a lazy start to the day. It stayed cool windy and cloudy most of yesterday. Today it is cool, almost cold. The cottage thermometer read 46 and fog hugged the lake. The sky was mostly clear with a stray contrail, a few puffy clouds, and the last bit of the moon peeking through.

fog on Lake Margrethe – my first shot – iPhone and Instagram

fog on Lake Margrethe – my second shot – Nikon

Continue reading Michigan weather →

a new window

Friday, July 19, 2013, @ 7:05 amadventure, Family, jobs, Life in General, Reading, teaching, travel, Weather, Writingchildren, Grayling, great days, making the days count, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

I am up north, again. I drove up late Wednesday night with Ivy. She was a good passenger and rode quietly in the back seat. She’s still sleeping like everyone else and it is quiet here. I can look out through a new window this morning and see the lake, the boats, and the breeze blowing making the lake choppy and rustling the trees. Continue reading a new window →

Midsummer’s Night Dream

Thursday, July 11, 2013, @ 8:52 amadventure, Family, growing up, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, Family, great days, hard work, making the days count, reading, scouting, softball, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, writingClay

Yesterday, Ivy greeted me at the bottom of the stairs when I came down. She had that look on her face that gave away where she’d been sleeping. I checked the living room chair, it was warm, and I looked at her, pointed to the chair, and looked again, sternly. She knew. I don’t think ‘my look’ is going to fix the issue, but I do believe she understood I was unhappy. I made coffee, let her out the backdoor and began the day. Yesterday morning it was sunny, warm, and muggy and Ivy and I could feel the air outside when we got the morning paper. This morning was a bit different, the weather had changed and it was cool enough to sleep with the windows open, significant benefit of living in the Midwest. Instead of waiting for me to wake, she came upstairs to greet me at 3AM. I climbed out of bed and went downstairs with her. She wanted to go outside but at three in the morning and it being dark, very dark, I feared an encounter with a skunk – she stayed inside. I fell asleep on the couch and W woke me at 6.15 reminding me it was time to go to football camp. Ivy eagerly jumped in the backseat and rode along it’s sort of a summer tradition. She loves going for rides. When we returned the coffee was ready and it was quiet; time to read the newspaper, sip coffee, and listen to the birds call and chirp in the backyard. It is summer after all and the pace of life is slower, even at home. Last week we were up north at the cottage, where life’s pace is slow and peaceful. Continue reading Midsummer’s Night Dream →

Cottage Time

Tuesday, July 2, 2013, @ 9:29 amadventure, Cooking, Family, Life in General, pets, Reading, sports, teaching, travel, Weather, Writingchildren, eating, Family, Grayling, great days, making the days count, pets, reading, Summer Vacation, teaching, water sports, weather, writingClay

I am at the Michigan cottage now, it has been 1600 plus miles in one week. That’s how far I driven since my trip to Mississippi and back and to the cottage last Friday morning. That’s a long way. The drive down to Mississippi didn’t seem to faze me, but the drive back took its toll. I was whacked, the following day. All I wanted to do was sleep, I would sneak off to lie down and catch a short nap, if I could. It only frustrated B because there was much to do, there always is, especially when we were packing and heading north for a week. Continue reading Cottage Time →

Road Trip – Part 2: Homeward Bound

Tuesday, June 25, 2013, @ 7:51 amadventure, country, Family, growing up, history, jobs, Life in General, Reading, teaching, Teaching and Learning, travel, Weather, Writingdad, eating, education, Family, hard work, making the days count, MS, Oxford, reading, restaurants, Summer Vacation, teaching, writingClay

It’s Tuesday morning and I’ve been in Oxford for five days; counting this morning and Friday night, really, three full days, and I do mean FULL days. Regardless, my mission is done. Julie, rather Juliana (only one ‘N’) has the internet and an iPad.

During my time, here in Oxford I have exposed her to all sorts of new experiences – e-mail, the internet, and iPad apps. Along the way, I have left her a trail of notes and left behind a notebook with screen shots, but I hope, nothing overwhelming. It has been fun to visit, talk, and share. I wish we lived closer so I could visit more often, or she could visit us. However, that is not an option so I’ll have to write, e-mail, and call maybe even face-time.
Continue reading Road Trip – Part 2: Homeward Bound →

Day 15: two weeks in, nine more to go

Wednesday, June 19, 2013, @ 10:49 amadventure, Family, food, history, jobs, Life in General, Reading, Scouting, teaching, Weather, Writingchildren, education, Family, geography, grammar, great days, high school football, making the days count, seventh grade, softball, Summer Vacation, teaching, weather, word partsClay

School let out two weeks ago and I have never been tireder. Is that even a word? Actually, it is not – I checked. The correct word, or words, should be more tired. It is the comparative form of the adjective, tired. In case you are wondering the superlative form is most tired and not tiredest like you’d think. Its comparative and superlative forms are irregular so the normal rules do not apply: example small – smaller – smallest and big – bigger – biggest. I would have thought tired – tireder – tiredest, but that does not work. Oh well, I have never been MORE TIRED, seriously.

The basement isn’t going as smoothly as I thought it would. The paneling is glued to the studs with super adhesive stuff and some of the paneling has come off easily, and others have not. The job is taking much longer than I anticipated. I did find a couple of the cracks in the foundation, they were the cracks we discovered in April and they were hidden behind the paneling near the window wells. Fortunately they are small cracks and easily sealable or seemingly so. I still have a lot of work to do. Continue reading Day 15: two weeks in, nine more to go →

Oh, how did I get here?

Friday, June 14, 2013, @ 8:25 amFamily, jobs, Life in General, Reading, Scouting, teaching, Teaching and Learning, Writingchildren, education, Family, great days, hard work, making the days count, reading, scouting, softball, Summer Vacation, writingClay

It is Friday morning, almost a free day, and no camps, only quiet until everyone wakes. Sleeping in is a summer tradition, after all. Even Ivy joined in. Me, I slept until 6.30, then got up, made coffee, read the paper, and then got started on the computer. That was forty minutes ago.

I started ripping the paneling off the basement walls yesterday. It felt good, really good. We have cracks in the foundation, small ones, but small ones leak when it rains especially when it rains a lot. We learned that in April. We knew about one leaky crack, but we discovered others hidden behind the wall that soggy Thursday morning. I have a lot of work ahead, three and a half walls to go and then there is the re-build.

Between Tuesday and this morning, we’ve endured powerful storms Continue reading Oh, how did I get here? →