October 23, 2010

Uncle York, Mrs Uncle York, and I drove to the Blue Ridge Parkway on Saturday to view the beautiful colors and eat breakfast at the restaurant next door to the Mabry Mill. There was quite a wait because the restaurant closes for the season at the end of October, and hundreds of people enjoy the buckwheat and sweet potato pancakes as well as the Fall colors!
There are many, many produce booths along the parkway and in the small towns nearby selling mountain apples and cabbages, mums, sweet potatoes, and countless other fruits and vegetables. A wide variety of apples is available. We also saw numerous fields of pumpkins ready to be shipped to canneries or sold for jack-o-lanterns.
The colors weren't nearly as vibrant this year as in previous years probably due to a lack of rain this past summer,but it was still a most enjoyable day with the temperature being close to ideal in the lower to mid 70's.

October 2, 2010

The North Carolina 7th Cavalry participates annually in a Civil War Encampment & Living History at Laurel Hill near Ararat, North Carolina. I started attending these presentations several years ago when the father of one of my students, a member of the NC 7th Cavalry, let me know that he'd be participating.


I've attending each year since then because Private Bullock makes sure to stop by school to let me know when they're held. This year his daughter is in my fifth grade class and is participating in the Living History weekends herself, much to the delight of her dad.

If you get a chance to view one of these presentations, please do so because they are an accurate portrayal of a part of the history of this great nation. We would not have become so great without having been sorely tested and tempered first!

September 8, 2010

Drove to Sarah's and Jay's for the Labor Day weekend and had a most enjoyable time with Dayla as well. The traffic on the way down was just awful and extended my travel time by about an hour, but on the way home there was very, very little so had about a five hour drive back.

Jay had most of the weekend off but did have to go to the hospital for rounds pretty early on Monday. We were able to accomplish quite a bit in just a few days, and the new house is looking more spectacular each time I've been there to visit. Frames around mirrors have added a finished look to both bathrooms, Sarah's craft center will be a delightful hobby corner for her to express her marvelous creative abilities, and I'm sure Jay will soon have a list of "things" he'll want to make with his refurbished table saw and scroll saw!

Dayla was entertaining as usual and is in the process of developing a most delightful sense of humor. I was able to read to her and enjoy playing with her and the educational toys she has to manipulate.

August 25, 2010

The 2010-11 school year started for me on Auguat 18 with several work days every one of which I used along with numerous days before then! Our rooms had been totally vacated at the end of last year so that the old, old carpet could be removed and replaced with new floor tiles. You'll see the new tile in some of the pictures, and as you can see, it sure does brighten up the room. It's noisier in here but not as bad as I thought it might could be with pads on the legs of our NEW desks and chairs!

This year's group holds the promise of being exceptional students both academically and behaviorally! Very few of them had to re-take any of the 4th grade EOG's so Uncle York and I are anticipating a wonderful year with them!
After much internet research over the summer, Uncle York and I have decided to follow the lead of numerous other public school systems across the nation and have opted for single-gender classes aimed primarily at math and science in our attempt to raise scores in those areas. We're hoping for scores in other subjects to improve significantly as well as a result of this re-grouping. Our new principal, the county superintendent, Dr. Hobbs, along with other supervisory personnel have wholeheartedly endorsed this project of ours, and, as a matter of fact, the main speaker at the opening convocation this year was Dr. Bill McBride from California who happened to be a proponent of single-gender classrooms!!!

We're setting up the 55 gallon aquarium again this year and will be raising trout from the egg stage to fingerling size to be released into a stream some time in May. This project is sponsored by and funded for us by TIC (Trout in Classrooms) of North Carolina. They are a "catch and release" group of men and women who foster the replenishment of trout into the wild.


We've been enjoying our recesses in spite of the high 90's! Uncle York and I have them playing touch football, or they can practice kickball in anticipation of the annual 4th/5th grade challenge and grudge game at the end of the year with the entire school enjoying watching the game.

August 10, 2010

I thoroughly enjoyed a most delightful and long weekend in Mt Pleasant, South Carolina, after celebrating Dayla's first birthday! There were several folks who came from Georgia, Alabama, Danville, and Winston-Salem to enjoy a cookout at the community cabana and take a dip in the swimming pool! What a wonderful meal "Pappy" and Jared cooked for the crowd there.
We walked to the beach the last evening there and enjoyed wading in the warm surf. It was hot while I was there but so bad as it's been in Virginia the past couple of weeks, that's for sure! I'm looking forward to the cooler Fall weather and the start of this next school year on the 18th.
I carried several things there for Sarah and Jay but forgot the frames I've made for the bathroom mirrors!!! They're still safely on the porch at home where I put them so I wouldn't for get to bring them with me; none of you have probably ever done that, have you? Did remember the shelf for Sarah's craft "studio" and the fans for the bedrooms to replace the ones which weren't working so it wasn't a wasted trip as far as having something to do!

August 3, 2010

Just returned from Idaho after spending a week with my "twin" brother David! He's promised, and he already knew, that he'll be here in North Carolina for our birthday this next school year; it's his turn to come here anyway.
We had a great time together after not having seen him for the past nine years. Did some really interesting things while there: hiked several miles up a mountain to see a spectacular lake, the Upper Glidden; rode thirty-some miles on an abandoned train bed which has been paved for a bike trail and saw a moose with a set of young twins; explored two silver mines which are still being worked and mining 1,500,000 ounces of silver annually in one, to 6,500,000 ounces from the other, the Sunshine Mine!!!
Also had a backyard picnic on Saturday with Little Lennie, Crystal, and Nate the Great who live nearby in Coeur D'Alene. We played Boocheyball and had a terrific cookout, which David prepared in his Weber Grill, along with a vegetable pasta salad and Beth's Ramen concoction; had to call her to get the recipe which everyone enjoyed.
I met David's neighbor, Cliff, who came over to visit several times. It was one one of Cliff's bikes we borrowed for our trail ride. Had to get up at 2:00 a.m. for my flight back but had no problem doing that because it was 5:00 a.m. here in Virginia.
I've got a lot of pictures to post here and on my Facebook page as soon as I can get them downloaded from my "welfare" camera, which Sarah gave me, and Theresa helps me to get them there!

July 27, 2010

I flew to St Louis for a loonng weekend with Beth's and Chad's family, and we enjoyed a wonderful time at the zoo among several other sites as well, a great zoo where Marlin Perkins, host of "Zoo Parade" for many years, was once the director. They've done some fantastic additions and improvements and made it a world class place to visit. We spent an entire day at the zoo, and the kids, all of us actually, truly enjoyed it. At the end of the day the kids said that that was all the walking they wanted to do! It was quite hot that day, but we all grunted and explored the entire facility. Jonathon especially liked the elephants and we all enjoyed the Sea Lion show in the afternoon.
We explored the City Museum the next day from top to bottom especially the rooftop where there's a playground with slides, a humongous swing, planes to crawl around in, and a school bus hanging over the edge of the ten-story building! I didn't even think twice about getting in that bus! It's actually a collection of items from demolition sites in and around St Louis which no one wanted but were too historically significant to be totally demolished. It's been put together by an obviously very creative architect, and we probably didn't see all of it.
Also took a guided tour of the Anheuser-Busch Brewery and was amazed at what they do there but didn't have time to go to Grant's Farm where most of the Clydesdale horses are stabled. There were a few of them at the brewery, an elaborate stable, along with some of the the wagons which were a treat to see, those gentle giants of the horse kingdom.
Evenings we went to Union Station and thoroughly enjoyed watching the kids on the bungee jumps and paddle boats. Union Station is where there've been many visits by celebrities including President Wilson showing the headline proclaiming that he'd been defeated by Dewey in the 1948 Presidential election. I've never seen a more complete shopping mall anywhere, and the ice cream was beyond description.
We stayed at what used to be the St Louis Railroad YMCA which was built in 1907 but has since been refurbished by Charles Drury in 1986 after sitting vacant from 1970 when the YMCA folded due to a decline in passenger train usage. At one time there were 114 single bedrooms to accomodate as many as 400,000 transient railroad workers annually! It's now a Drury Hotel with accommodating rates and complimentary breakfasts and suppers each day and complimentary soda and popcorn available all day long. The kids, except for Hannah, got up early with me each day for a hot breakfast of eggs, sausage, biscuits and gravy, and waffles among other delicious items! They also enjoyed making cups of their own hot cocoa. A swimming pool and sauna in the lower level was a delightful respite at the end of the very hot days we've been experiencing this summer.

July 21, 2010

Well, I've finally gotten everything into my room that I'll need for this next year at school and now just need to get it all put away which there's plenty of room to do because I've sorted through it all and pitched what I've not used in the past several years. I finally found the social studies and math textbooks in the office as they'd just not been brought to my room yet; all is well for textbooks.

Uncle York and I are going to try something a bit different this year and separate the boys and girls when we switch classes for my math and science subjects. Girls traditionally have had lower scores than the boys in both of those areas, and recent research strongly indicates that the girls are able to achieve at a higher level when they don't have to compete directly with the boys in class, so we're going to try it this year. President Via gave us his hearty endorsement. There are 18 girls and 11 boys in the fifth grade which should make for a most pleasant last hurrah!!! Uncle York mentioned our retirement party at dinner last evening, and he said he'd be glad to host it at his log home.!

We went to a concert of songs from award-winning films and musicals last evening in Greensboro and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thirty-eight songs all together performed by two sopranos, a delightful tenor, and a baritone all of whom who've done numerous performances here and abroad. Then enjoyed an Asian restaurant cuisine with a menu from many different countries. Such pleasant people to spend time with!


Exciting news, for me anyway, I may have a chance to join Theresa and Winston in Cuba next year and perhaps teach on the base there. I've contacted the government agency in regard to that possibility but haven't heard anything back as of now. Cuba is not high on the list of preferences so the chances of me getting a position there is reasonably good, according to Theresa! The other possibility is to have a volunteer position with the Florida State Parks and serve during the winter months alongside my sister- and brother-in-law and another brother-in-law. What a treat that would be as well!

July 18, 2010

I've been spending quite a bit of time at school trying to get my classroom back together now that the old carpet has been replaced with new floor tile, Carolina blue and white, of course! The fifth graders have been treated to brand new desks and chairs for this next year, and the chairs appear to be very comfortable. I've also been retrieving all of my things from Ms Vaughn's mobile classroom where it's been stored since we got out of school in June. Wasn't much of a job with the students helping out those last few days, but Uncle York and I are having to carry it all back in by ourselves; we just do a little each day in the heat!

Just returned from a most delightful week with the Ganions in the Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky!!! It was very hat, as it's been nearly everywhere else this summer, but the evenings cooled off nicely which made sleeping no problem. There were several trails to hike, but they were closed shortly after we got there due to a fellow having been attacked by a Black Bear within a mile of our campsite. The Park Rangers relocated all of us to a different area in the park, but the trails remained closed until the last day we were there while they tried to capture the bear; no such luck. We did do quite a bit of hiking each day, although having to travel to various sites in the area. We also toured a completely restored fort at Boonesboro.

My son-in-law, Major Winston Tierney, was recently appointed to the commander's position at GTMO, and he and Theresa have invited me for a visit over the Christmas break which I'm really looking forward to taking advantage of so I can visit with them and their daughters, Pele and Mairead. We've been Skyping nearly every day so that I can keep track of them. Mairead started walking just a few days before they flew to Cuba and is already running like a track star!

I'm looking forward to a trip to St Louis to visit with Beth and her family and also a flight to Idaho for a much anticipated visit with my twin brother, David. By the way, it's his turn to visit here on our birthday so this year's class will be treated to a visit with him when he arrives in February!

July 17, 2010

I've been trying to enjoy a very HOT summer by traveling and doing a "bunch" of camping in between helping Sarah and Jay move to Charleston, SC. Jay is doing his internship as an ENT at the University Hospital of South Carolina over the next five years, and Sarah is working as a Speech and Language Therapist at the same hospital.
Right after we got out of school I spent a week with my brother-in-law in northern Florida where he is a volunteer at one of the state parks, River Rise. Toward the end of June I spent a week camping with my sister- and brother-in-law at the Natural Bridge State Park in Kentucky where our hikes were curtailed after a man was attacked by a Black Bear; ninety-one stitches in his leg where the bear had grabbed him! I also camped at Stone Mountain State Park near Roaring Gap which is where we released the trout we raised in school. What a beautiful hike to the top of the mountain, one which Karen and I enjoyed very much last year!!!