The idea of baby steps has an intuitive obviousness about it. For years, I have loved using the term, illustrating it with examples. Preaching it to others. But practicing it was a different matter. You’re looking at a card-carrying procrastinator. Yet to survive as a teacher, you must work efficiently. Otherwise… well otherwise you burn […]
Yearly Archives: 2024
Don’t Waste Your Time
Sat, 24 Aug 2024, 10:07 AM (-06:00)
Friday afternoon after the last school bell. The halls are empty. The classroom doors are all shut and locked, except Room 255. I’m putting up some decorations on the door. “Don’t waste your time!” someone calls out from the end of the hall, and then she laughs. “Face it. You might as well just […]
Yellow Garden Spider
Sat, 3 Aug 2024, 07:27 PM (-06:00)
Let’s talk about the Yellow Garden Spider again, shall we? She’s still there. (Indeed, we found another one near the front door: Beware garden walks in the evening!) I walked out to check on her this afternoon. She saw me coming, and she scrambled. Not out of sight, just higher up on her web. And you […]
My Brother
Thu, 1 Aug 2024, 09:34 AM (-06:00)
My brother likes music continuously playing in every room. I often turn it off when we leave. My brother runs his dogs for miles sometimes twice a day. I walk ours around the block in the morning before it gets hot. My brother organizes swims across the lake. I paddle. My brother sets up tents […]
Argiope aurantia
Wed, 31 Jul 2024, 09:01 PM (-06:00)
1. 1967 They ran out the back door into the field behind the farmhouse. It was summer. The air was warm. The sky was blue. And cousins were everywhere. The kids ran across the lawn and into the nearby farm field. They ran into the corn rows. And somewhere in there, he encountered a spider […]
On Travelling Home
Tue, 30 Jul 2024, 04:59 PM (-06:00)
1. Five Days / Four Nights Returning solo to Texas from Michigan was a five day affair. I had the teardrop behind me. I knew that I didn’t want to drive over 60 and so planned to avoid Interstates entirely. (Don’t look at me like that! The Fair and Industrious Trudy is completely onboard with […]
Leftovers
Tue, 30 Jul 2024, 11:55 AM (-06:00)
1. New York Leftovers I crossed the St. Lawrence River from Canada to New York windows wide open. The temperature dropped, bringing joy to driving the Thousand Islands Bridge solo despite the lack of anyone to describe the beauty of the amazing world passing below — a world of clear water, of sunlight bouncing off […]