New Toy

Well, here I am, posting with my brand new Mac Air.  I set it up myself!

Ha! should have done this a long time ago!

Happy Father's Day

My Dad has been gone for a long time now.  I am no longer married to the father of my children, but I trust they were in touch and I know that I appreciate the role he played for all those years.

There was no Father's Day celebration for me today, but I do want to wish all those who are fathers, dads, daddies, and father figures a very happy day.

Bunny

I have lived in this house for twenty years now.   In all that time, I never once saw a rabbit in the yard.  Well now there is one who has been hanging out under the deck.  I can't imagine why.  My herb garden is there, but there are no rabbit teeth marks on anything--or at least not yet.  I shall keep my eye on that situation.

This is not my picture, but it is cute.  Is this the Chinese calendar year of the rabbit?  Maybe out little visitor will bring me some good luck.



Hmm...those herbs...
I should actually harvest some thyme, Greek oregano, and mint for drying.  I have more chives than I could possibly use.  I am not going to start putting them in my breakfast cereal.  I refuse!

The Herb Gardener is a great place to look for all things herby, by the way.  I will wander over there now as a matter of fact.

&%#@! Computer

I wrote about my vacuum cleaner a while ago.  I contacted the Eureka company and the woman who spoke to me said it should be covered by the manufacturer's warranty and she told me of a repair shop nearby.  I took it there ten days ago and have not heard any thing since.  The man who took it did say it would take a few days to get to it and then a couple of weeks for the part(s) to come in so I guess I should remain patient.

Other things were on my mind for a while, but now it is about time to vacuum so I hope that I do hear something good and I hope I hear it soon.

In the meantime, the screen on my Dell laptop started fading, fading, fading.  I dropped that off at the computer repair place last Wednesday.  I have not heard from them.  The thing was two weeks past its warranty so I am kind of dreading the news from them.  I swear that when I had to have a new hard drive installed last February, they said the warranty would be extended by six months.  Apparently, I made that up because no one at the ever helpful Dell Support seemed to be aware of any such promise.

Ordinarily, I would see my brother-in-law (my sister's husband) and he would have the thing fixed in a matter of minutes.  They are going through a life crisis right now so I will not be bothering him.

Anyway, I do hope I hear something about the computer today.  Our desktop is ancient and Mike's laptop is ten years old.  I am being severly inconvienced here.

We are still getting quite a lot of rain.  I look out the window and see the weeds laughing at me.  I am getting plenty of reading done at least.

Thank-you

Once again, thank-you for all the kind thoughts and condolences over the past week.

My heart goes out to Greg and Em, who have lost their mother and father both in the past fourteen months.  They had so many tough decisions to make in the past few weeks, but the strength they showed in doing so is a testament to each other and to their parents and extended family.

My heart goes out to their aunt, who lost a sister, a husband, and a brother-in-law in the same fourteen months. 

My heart goes out to the nieces and nephews who have so many family memories bound to Bill and Liz and their welcoming home.

And, of course, my heart goes out to the three remaining siblings-- Mike, Jeannie, and Tom -- and spouses --Shawn and Jean--who have now mourned the loss of two beloved brothers and a beloved sister-in-law.


The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.
                                                                                                                               Mark Twain

A Death in the Family

My brother-in-law, Mike's brother passed away on Saturday.  We will once again head off to Connecticut for the funeral.  Bill was a year younger than Mike.  The cancerous tumor they thought that they could remove turned out to be system wide cancer and he was to be released from the hospital to go into hospice.  The doctor's gave him six months to a year, but Bill, ever the practical one decided not to go through all that bother.  We are very sad.

The Teaching Klutz

Some people are natural born teachers.  Some people have to learn the skills.  Others should just plain not bother.  I suppose that is true for any endeavor in life.

I had to learn and it took me a while to come into my own as a teacher.  Mostly, I was just too naïve for the profession, especially early on.

I do remember this incident from early in my career, though, when I thought I really had it down.

I was a high school special education teacher in a small school.  I had a motley band of little Calvins to guide.  I was also one of those peripatetic types, always walking around.  Well, you kind of had to be with this particular group.  A little distance was a lot of leeway for those kids.

So one day, we were (if I recall correctly) doing a review for a history test that they would be taking in a day or two.  I had a study guide and I was really into it.  Also, I noticed that I seemed to have the rapt attention of the students.  Wow, their eyes were following me every step of the way.  I had them enthralled with a history review.  I was in the teaching zone!

Of course, that is when I backed into an empty one of those desk-chair combinations.  Smack...and down I went.

In a sad, sad moment, I realized full well that they had no interest in my history review whatsoever.
They had had a pool going as to when I would trip over something and hit the floor.