The daily meanderings of a teacher

Tag: Family

  • LIFE and FINALITY, two words that, as we get older, seem to be a part of our daily process.

    Bird Droppings January 1, 2025LIFE and FINALITY, two words that, as we get older, seem to be a part of our daily process. Morning has been a special time for me each day, a new beginning. Several aspects make it special; the first one is taking pictures of sunrises. Then I ran some errands, started…

  • I do wonder about getting older.

    Bird Droppings December 23, 2025 I do wonder about getting older. “Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.” Mark Twain I find myself using my age to my advantage when the little girl at the Kroger register asks if I’m a senior citizen. I carry my AARP…

  • Families and Friends

    Bird Droppings December 19, 2025Families and Friends The holidays are coming here soon. This holiday will be different, and Thanksgiving was less crowded. Pat and I were talking, Thanksgiving will be the sixth in forty-seven years we have had a smaller meal. This semester of graduate school is ending. I have some work to complete.…

  • The fragility and power of life

    Bird Droppings January 16, 2025 The fragility and power of life I was awakened early with a vivid dream this morning. I am also getting old and needed to take a potty break. Hearing a teenager, I assume, tearing out of our subdivision about two in the morning also did not help my sleep. Around…

  • Who would have thought that a buffalo snort in the dark could impact me almost thirty years later?

    Bird Droppings November 24, 2024 Who would have thought that a buffalo snort in the dark could impact me almost thirty years later? I use the word synchronicity quite often. Perhaps more than twenty times a day. I drove up to the corner store for gas, and I gathered up coinage from the dashboard. I…

  • Today should always be the first day.

    Bird Droppings December 12, 2025Today should always be the first day. Over the past several weeks, we have been cleaning out our storage buildings. It is a slow, tedious process of finding things we have not seen in twenty or more years. I found a briefcase with my bank statements from 1973-76 or so. I…

  • To die a happy death: perhaps that is something to attain.

    Bird Droppings December 11, 2025 To die a happy death: perhaps that is something to attain. My mother’s spirit passed on four years ago. She went to sleep and moved on. As I pondered my thoughts for today, I always thought about education. I have been teaching public high school for nearly 20 years, elementary…

  • Can you give it one more try?

    Bird Droppings December 9, 2025Can you give it one more try? “You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out, but you gotta suit up for them all.” Satchel Paige is often attributed to J. Aisenberg In my high school teaching days, teachers at my school judged seasons by testing, not by weather.…

  • Reconciling the importance of the present, past, and future to find balance

    Bird Droppings December 5, 2025 Reconciling the importance of the present, past, and future to find balance I spent the better part of the past few days in Southern Pines, North Carolina, visiting our son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids. On our way home, we side-tracked Pawleys Island, South Carolina, and Huntington State Park for a quick…

  • Living a moment at a time

    Bird Droppings November 26, 2025 Living a moment at a time On Tuesday morning, I walked out into my yard to take a few photos after missing the sunrise. From the field behind us, a red-tailed hawk soared around once and landed in a large, black walnut tree next to us. It was only seventy-five…