A few weeks ago my daughter sent me a video of her reading to her sweet baby boy and my four month old grandson, Joshua. The book was Sandra Boynton’s board book Moo, Baa, La La La, in which she tells of the sounds that animals make. As Erin read and made all of the requisite animal sounds for Joshua, he giggled and giggled…except with the meow of the cat. Apparently at this tender young age, he is not impressed…
My teaching schedule was weird today because of our State of the College address this morning. This gave me a little free time because my morning classes were cancelled. I went to my office with the intention of writing a blog post about… When I was a kid, I was taught to respect adults – my parents, my friends’ parents, teachers, any adult with whom I came into contact. Respect is a big thing when you are the child of…
I know…there is nothing routine about a bucket list trip that takes you to another continent almost 4000 miles from home. That said, this trip made me think a lot about my daily routines at home-the things I do and don’t do-as well as the pieces of those routines that I did and didn’t maintain while away. The oddest part of the trip, since Weber did not go with me, was having seven nights in a hotel room by myself….
Bucket List Trip #2 is now complete. As is the case when any goal is set and then achieved, the emotions surrounding it are many. It is much like what I experienced when I was playing recitals. For a long period of time, all of your thoughts and energy are focused on that one thing and then, in what seems like no time at all, it is over. In that “overness” is a swirl of thoughts, emotions, and images. As…
On my 56th birthday, I wrote this post, the first in what I intended to be a weekly post about making my way from 56 to 60. That did not go exactly as planned. I acknowledged my failure with those weekly posts a few days back and am now starting again where I am, with Sailing Toward Sixty #9- Here We Go Again! This post’s title is not what you think. This series of posts got its name from the realization that…
As a musician by profession, it will come as no surprise that I love going to live concerts. I also love live theater. What I don’t like is how expensive tickets to these things can be. “Good” seats for both can cost hundreds of dollars. It is not that I don’t think experiencing these things as a member of the audience is worth the money. I know first hand how much time, energy, sweat, and money is needed to produce…
Old Mother Hubbard Went to the cupboard To give the poor dog a bone; But when she got there The cupboard was attacked by a full bottle of soy sauce That made a big mess and kicked her in the rear. Okay…It wasn’t Mother Hubbard or a cupboard. It was me and my pantry. But, the soy sauce and the big mess are truth! Most days I have to laugh at the universe’s incredible sense of humor and how…
I am now a month into summer vacation 2019. As is the case with everything these days, I have no idea where the time has gone. Thus far my break can be summed up as…random acts of…. Today I find myself examining these last four weeks more intentionally, trying to identify in concrete terms exactly what I have done, what I haven’t done, and what I want to be doing with my days. This exploration will hopefully lead me to…
One thing that I think most of us have learned by the time we reach “a certain age” is that there are no guarantees in this life. Thus, we should take nothing for granted, not the big things and not the small things. Our lives can be turned upside down in an instant. Over the weekend, I was out-of-town visiting a friend and participating in a bowling fundraiser. Despite cold, sleet, ice, and snow, it was a great weekend. This…
So what’s up with old, older, old-ish, people over fifty and their fascination, or maybe it’s an outright obsession, with the weather? When my dad retired from the Navy, my parents moved back to their home state of Delaware where, at the time, my grandmother still lived. Almost every evening from 1985 until 2012 when my grandmother passed away, my dad, the the dutiful son, would call his mother to check on her. Inevitably, the conversation always began with, “How’s the weather over…