Much Calmer Week

So, after my traveling blues from last weekend it has been nice to just have a normal week here. No school delays, no clashing plans, just a busy week in the middle of a chilly winter. The temperature has not been above freezing since I got back home and it's wearing out my legs. They just don't like all this cold weather. The kids seem pretty unfazed by it all I am happy to say.
Gram has a sleepover tonight and two games this weekend. I'm on dorm duty so I won't be able to attend either of them. I've been to most of them so far and either Beth or I have been at every game. That'll likely change on Sunday as I am tied to the dorm and Beth is obliged at church. Luckily, we have friends who are willing to help out. We had a fun family night on Weds. We went to see the women's and men's basketball games across the river at King's College. It's good for Beth to be able to be part of community events and Gram has been showing a real interest in basketball, so we thought it would be fun for him. He did not show much sign of being engaged, but he and Mo had a good time nonetheless playing hide and seek and running around the gym there. Mo also saw her pal Leo the Lion - the school mascot. She shared her doll with him in exchange for a turn with his pom-pom. Fun night.

Sad traveling News

So, I am still not back home. I arrived at the Raleigh airport after dropping off my rental car. I found out that all Philly flights were cancelled. Luckily, my former student who lives in the area was willing and able to rescue me. He came to get me and he and I had a great night at a local taproom. Good beer, pretty good food, great conversations. I am now sitting in Philadelphia and I am on schedule to get home in a little over an hour from now. Just spoke to Beth and found out that Mo got sick last night. Hoping that whatever it was is gone. Don't want her sick and don't want to deal with not being at school tomorrow. Long, but rewarding couple of days for me. Long couple of days for Beth as well.

Happy Traveling News

So, I was late getting to Raleigh Durham and my former student Chris had to navigate me on the phone to get to his house. It seems that the Garmin GPA does not think that his road exists. I spent most of the drive from the airport to his house on my earbud attachment to my phone in the dark listening to his directions. Made it there and had some lovely lasagna, red wine, and a great chat.

Friday was a busy day at NCSSM and although I had signed up to go to their dinner banquet my brain was tired. I found a great local beer shop, some good local BBQ (Bullock's - it is worth going to if you're in the triangle) and curled up in my cozy hotel room eating, drinking, and watching NBA. Got a great night's sleep and prowled the internet for a diner breakfast. Struck gold again at Elmo's where I had a terrific homemade corned beef hast and lots o'coffee. Back here at NCSSM to fill my brain back up.

Snow is heading our way back home and I hope it does not prevent me from getting back tonight. I feel that I have had my fair share of bad airline karma as of late, I'm due for some good news.

Traveling Blues

So, I left school early today to head to the local airport for a flight to Durham, NC. I am heading to the North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) for their annual conference called Teaching Contemporary Mathematics. I went once when we live in So Fla and it was terrific. I'm happy to be going again. We boarded on time in Moosic but it had started snowing (again!) by then so we pulled away from the terminal and stopped to be de-iced. Then the airport closed and we sat and we sat. By the time I arrived in Charlotte (where I am sitting now) my connector had departed. US Airways was cooperative and got me on a later flight to Raleigh so I am ready to board soon. I'll make it tonight!

I am looking forward to dining with a former student and his wife. I realize I miss hearing southern accents. Not so many of them in NEPA but all around me here in the Charlotte airport.

I was afraid I'd have to rent a car to make the 3 hour drive from Charlotte to the triangle. Instead, I have a comfy layover - a quick trip to the bar at a mexican restaurant for an insanely overpriced cold beverage. Now, I'm ready to board another flight. Perhaps another nap is in order...

Another Chilly Day

It was another brutally cold day here. The kids had another school delay coming the day after they were dismissed early. Much school time has been missed already this year. It seems that these weather events have been targeting Gram's basketball with uncanny accuracy.

I am off to North Carolina tomorrow for a quick trip to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. They runs  pretty fantastic teaching conference every February. I've been once before, back when I was working at Saint Andrew's. I am looking forward to some grey math fun and hoping to come back home with many activity and lesson ideas for my department colleagues. Lucky for me my flight was not today because most flights out of our area were cancelled today because the eastern US hubs were all frozen in.

Vortex Redux

The kids got sent home from school early today because of the return of the polar vortex to our area. As I write it is now 8 degrees out and heading back to the negative territory tonight. Gram was sorely disappointed because he missed yet another basketball practice (I think it is five now that they've missed, plus some games) and he also missed his first computer coding class. I fear that we are in for another delay of some sort in the morning as well.

Here is a recent photo of the boy

A Surprise Snowy Day

Just recovering from a busy, but terrific weekend here. I was on dorm duty so I was up later than I am used to being up. In my salad days in Gainesville, I was routinely up to silly hours - especially on the weekend. Now, when I am up until about 1 AM or so (as I am on dorm duty nights) I am just wiped out the next day. Since Monday is my normal study hall duty night, whenever I have a weekend of duty, I am up on Friday, Saturday, and Monday night. Since I am getting old, this results in me being tired for a few days. It was a great weekend to be on duty since it was international dinner on Saturday. This event is one of the highlights of the year here. We had students from China cooking all afternoon in our kitchen and the gym hosted tables from 21 countries serving food native to their country. So much fun!

Woke up this morning to a pleasant dusting of snow here. I must admit that I am shocked that I would ever type that previous sentence. The air is still, the light snow fall this morning was actually pretty tranquil. My kids have not inherited my gene that would like to keep snow at a safe distance. Both of them were pretty amused to see the snow this morning and the boy was kicking around in it at the bus stop this morning.

Some highlights of the past few days -
Mo told me that it is very important to go to school. If you don't, your brain will turn to jell-o.
Gram has discovered The Tick on TV. Netflix carries the very odd live-action show. He was devouring this last night.
I was talking to Mo about one of her after school teachers. She told me that this teacher was 'Boss of the Town'

So much for TCB...

So, after a winter break lasting from Dec 20 until Jan 5 we were in school for a total of 1 whole day. Now, due to severe cold  we are out of school for the day.



That's the sad news on the front of my weather.com page.

The sadder part is this picture


Make careful note of the temp in Lake Worth. Sigh…

Time to TCB

Our long, cold holiday is finally coming to a close. We hosted grandmothers from Dec 19 to Jan 1. Since then we have seen temps in the negative (in fahrenheit!), 3 - 6 inches of snow, high winds and now it's raining. Today is a moderate day in the 30s. Tomorrow is due to go from the mid 40s down to the negatives. Yipes! I am not sure I have ever lived through a day with that type of temperature shift.

Took the kids out today for sledding after Gram's basketball game. He's had a good basketball weekend  yanking down rebounds and he scored yesterday (a free throw) and today a field goal. He's on fire!

I'm looking forward to getting back to work after a long stretch off. I need to get disciplined this week and finally get working on my Geometry project. I'm also looking forward to spending some time visiting classes in the next few weeks. We've got a busy January ahead of us. I have two dorm duty weekends, one more home basketball game to do the scoreboard for, a church board meeting, a trip to NC, Gram has 5 more basketball games and 8 practices scheduled this month, and all the normal craziness of life.
Here's a snapshot of the snow we've had.

New Year - New Determination to Communicate

I have spent a good deal of time and energy writing my teacher blog in the past few months and I want to do the same here for the family blog as we move forward. The past few months have seen real sadness and great fun and happiness. The loss of my dad right before Thanksgiving was a sad shock. Below are some photos of his last trip to see the kids in early October. At the time we had no idea he was sick. The next week he found out he had pancreatic cancer and, sadly, it was a fast downhill trip.

Our Christmas holidays have been a grandma-palooza. My mom was here from Dec 19 to Dec 26. My in-laws arrived that night and left this morning. We had a lovely family christmas break. Fun day trip adventures, nice grandma time, spoiled kids, a couple of date nights for me and Beth, and now we are counting down to the beginning of manic daily life. The kids and I start again on Monday and Beth starts tomorrow. My goal is to blog at least once a week to keep a moving diary and to share with anyone who wants to drop by.

Here is a partial photo gallery with pics from my dad's last visit and a charming one of the kids in front of our Christmas tree. More to come.