A lot of memories flooded my head when I was home last week visiting my parents in Western New York. This is the area in which I grew up – outside of Rochester, New York. My parents no longer live in the town where I went to high school but rather in an adjacent town,…
The month of October was pretty awesome for my blog! I didn’t change anything I was doing, so I am not sure what to attribute the success to, but I am grateful in any case! On October 8th, one of my blog posts from 2016 went crazy and had an additional 166 more views. The…
I have always been a list maker. It is a habit that has gotten me through years of parenting three active boys, a husband who worked shifts, two graduate degrees, my own “jobs” or chores – both in the workplace and at home, and basically helped us meet all our obligations. But, earlier this week…
If you read my blog yesterday, you know I’ve been teaching during the last two days. Today, was more of the same – connecting students in grades 4-8 to our local lands through writing Haiku. The theme was wetlands but many wrote about Autumn, tree color, and other such observations that were encouraged in my…
On a Saturday in mid-September, I was at large event for work. It was an event I organized. There were at least 125 people in attendance, probably more. It was an event to celebrate land conservation hosted by our local land trust and promoted by the state governing body of land trusts. It even was…
Almost nine years ago (I cannot believe that much time has passed), I started a parent group for those families with children that had been identified as talented and gifted (TAG) in our school district. I did it out of great respect for our TAG teacher, who I asked if I could be of help…
Monday evening I was at parent-teacher conferences. My youngest son is a senior in high school and is currently involved in a large solo art project in a nearby community. He is painting a mural on an outdoor wall at a business. It is large – nearly 40 feet long. But, it is October in…
Yesterday was my last day of work at a job I’ve only had a little more than 8 months. It was a job I wanted, a job I was given the opportunity to have, and a job in what I was educated to do – be an environmental educator. But, alas, the job was not…
Pink Floyd Do you remember the Pink Floyd song that included the line: “Hey! Teachers! Leave Them Kids Alone!” Well, I do – since I am of an age when my friends were listening to Pink Floyd and other rock bands in the late seventies. This song and that famous line came to my mind…
It’s been a little over two weeks since I made my last monarch update. We are just starting the time of year when the super generation is being born! This is the generation of Monarchs that will migrate to Mexico, overwinter, and start to make the return trip Northward next spring. Having been on vacation…