A Fine Weekend

Our backyard bougainvilla looks like its ready for Christmas!

We had a very nice weekend - plenty of sunshine and outdoor work to do - windows open to the cool breeze and time for a walk around the neighborhood to look at house colors and try to decide on what we'd like when we paint at Christmas break. I think we've come to an agreement - not too dark for me, and plenty of color for Rob. The houses all around us are various shades of tan, brown, and putty so we're thinking a nice green with a cream color for trim.
Rob spent most of Saturday with his fix up the back yard project and I worked on school work with a nice break to explore a quilt shop I discovered not too far from here. I was looking for a particular piece of fabric for this year's quilt for the school auction. I figured I should get going on it as the auction is the first Saturday in March --coming soon enough.

The Challenges of teaching in FL

This week's little predecodable reader brought out an interesting response from one of my students. I asked, "What is the man in the picture doing?" The response was "He's cutting his grass, but I guess it snowed."

What just happened?

Tuesday afternoon I was coming home from school just after 4 PM. As I was pulling into our driveway, I noticed a car backing up away from me, heading east on Mystic Point. He was moving backwards quickly so I stopped in my driveway to watch. I watched him back into a parked Nissan Sentra! Wham! Crunch! He got out (me still watching), looked at the back end of his car, and the back end of the Sentra. He got back in his car, and I thought that he was getting some paper and a pencil to leave a note. But this is 2006, Orlando, and he -- apparently -- an irresponsible teen-ager. He continued backing his car around the Sentra and down the street. I called 911 to report what I'd seen. I was asked, "Did you get the car's tag number?" Duh! I told you he was backing away the whole time...Florida only has one license plate, and it's on the back of the car, the end that was away from me!!!

So I was getting some donuts at the neighborhood Dunkin Donuts Saturday morning -- work day scheduled for the homeowners' association members to clean the cabana / pool area. I ordered a dozen glazed from the woman at the counter and she started to ring up my purchase. She looked at me and asked, "Are you 55?" I was nonplussed; no one had ever asked me that before. I had to think...when was I born? I finally figured out that yes, I was that old and stammered out a yes. I got a 10% senior citizen's discount! I liked saving 70 cents; not sure how I feel about the senior citizen thing. Gayle and I ate the donuts; only one other person showed up to clean.

Saturday evening we had a church social / supper at George & Linda Bruneau's condo. We had 12 people there, just right for good food and fellowship. The best part was that Pat's husband Steve came with her. Pat has been in a women's Bible study with Gayle for more than a year. Steve has been church shy but on many people's prayer radar. We had a great time. Steve hit it off well with Pastor Don; they both had grown up in Orlando and knew the same schools and many of the same people. And there Steve was this morning -- in church with his wife Pat! I talked with Steve for a while as we put the furniture of the cafetorium back in place after church. He enjoyed the service, told me how much he enjoyed Saturday evening, and said he'd be back.

Fall Comes to Florida

Even if it only means that we have the air off and the windows open, Fall has arrived - at least for a few days. The sounds from outdoors and fresh air smells are about the only indicators - but I was surprised at how just that much creates a different feeling, a changed atmosphere. I guess I have to grab at any little thing to experience seasons here. My assistant gave me a pumpkin scented candle and on the note it said "We can pretend." Working outside is much more pleasant so Rob made some plans to fix up the backyard a bit. The grass back there never did recover after Hurricane Charlie and he's looking for more shade for some bromeliads. We're hoping to paint the house this year. Maybe we can get some help from Bob (?) when he comes home at Christmas. We've been looking at paint chips - most folks in the neighborhood have gone to darker colors recently instead of the Florida pastels. I'm ready to get rid of the "pink". Here's a few pictures of my students at the Green Meadows Farm and Pumpkin Patch this past week. We had beautiful weather and plenty for them to explore and enjoy. They especially liked the horseback rides and holding the baby chicks.

Enough Already

OK, I have had it! Where is integrity and honor among the leaders of our country? It is apparent to the public that Mark Foley is a predator. It was known for several years that Foley had a problem and yet the House leadership seems to have minimized, brushed off, and now stonewalls. Bah! Anyone who knew and did nothing should resign.

Bush just put off requirements for more alternative fuels 20 more years and continues to deny that there is global warming. Maybe it is only a large weather cycle, but there is no question that the Arctic ice is melting at an alarming rate. Can we do nothing to get us less dependant on oil? Are we so tied to conspicuous consumption? Americans put more money into their pets every year than some countries have in their whole national budget!

Why is it that our politicians in Washington are so power oriented, so political that they cannot pass a decent, reasonable law on illegal immegration? Build a wall? What a waste of time, effort, and money. Even the Berlin Wall couldn't keep people in, and this surely will not keep persistent people out -- people who want the opportunities available in the USA.

The Senate race in Florida is between GOP challenger Katherine Harris and Sen. Bill Nelson. Katherine Harris has accused Sen. Nelson of not acting like a Christian in some of his voting in the Senate. This is the man who took his Bible with him as an astronaut on a space shuttle flight in 1986, the man who lead the national prayer breakfast, and voted against partial birth abortions. Nelson has my vote...

And why do we continue to allow people to possess hand guns and assault rifles? This is not a Bill of Rights question. These firearms were made for one purpose -- to kill people. I'm not against hunting, but let's stop the people carnage!

I ache for people who will truly lead. People want leadership, and yet what we have is a Chimera, a mirage in the desert. I want a new party called Common Sense, whose members understand and hold to honor and integrity, who know right from wrong and do what is right.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. -- Micah 6:8

Cold Front

A cold front went through Orlando last night. As you can see, we really know how to have a front. Actually, we were only 3.7 degrees away from our all time record low for September 21. The chill was almost palpable, and I nearly had a goosebump. We even rode to school this morning with the windows down...well, we made it half-way to school before we turned the AC back on.

In other news, TCS had its most successful golf tournament ever last week-end. We raised just over $38,000 for the school! Now that is a warm thought!

TCS Golf Tournament

Saturday we got up at 4:45 AM so we could be at a golf course by 6:00 AM. We were volunteers at the annual Christ School golf tournament, held this year at the golf club in Celebration, Florida. Celebration is a Disney-planned community southeast of DisneyWorld just south of the Orange County line in Osceola County. The whole community is planned to look like an old style community -- houses have front porches, garages are entered from an alley, and even the strip mall looks like an old set of farm buildings with tin roofs.

We helped set up the golf carts in the dark; each cart got two goodie bags and two polo shirts in the correct size of the participants. There were 55 carts and 110 golfers! This is TCS's 11 year and the eleventh time it has held a golf tournament / fund raiser. The tournament is a best ball competition and had a shotgun start.

Gayle and I were tasked to sit at a table at the tee of the 5th hole, a par 3. The deal was that the golfer would give us $10, and if they landed on the green with their tee shot, the golfer has a pick of neat stuff worth way more than the $10 put down. We had a lot of fun talking with and taking money from the golfers. Many of the folks were parents and grandparents of current and former students. I had my camera along and took lots of pictures...and we will use a few of them to delight our students!

There was a luncheon in the clubhouse after the golfing was done. We raffled off various prizes -- awards for longest drive and longest put, lowest score and highest score. We got home around 3:00 PM. We were whupped puppies! The day was sunny and near 90 degrees so we were hot and sweaty. It was a good day -- lots of good fellowship, good food and prizes, and if the work at hole number 5 is an indication, a financial success for TCS. We took in $530, and were just one of many hole competitions!

Our goodie table at the 5th tee Light luncheon in the clubhouse

Team with the highest score...and youngest player! Tired, happy volunteers!

Jake, a 2nd grader at TCS, actually hits a pretty good driver! The driver head is almost as big as Jake's! Note the bobblehead high score prizes...

Ohhh, Crud!

The tropics were quiet for so long, we were hoping that it would be an uneventful year for the big winds and rain. And then, here comes Ernesto. In 24 hours, we've moved from feeling sorry for New Orleans - again! - to dismay as the Ernie track moved farther and farther east. It seems to have spared Jamaica but now will slam through the middle of Cuba. The latest prognostication on US landfall is Tampa, Wednesday, with a lead pipe...that would be a category 2...then cutting across the Florida peninsula and exiting north of Jacksonville on Friday morning.


My current favorite hurricane web site is http://www.wunderground.com/tropical/ because it has the 4 or 5 most used computer models that our Orlando weather stations talk about.

The thing I've learned in the 10+ years we've lived in Florida is that the projected track of the hurricane will change. Stay tuned! We will see what the week brings...

Back to School

It's been so long since I posted --school starting may have something to do with that. I'd better not chide the rest of you who haven't put anything new up for awhile (hint, hint.) The weather is hot, school is going well, we are fine except I've got a dandy cold (thank you little student who came the first day with a huge congestion!) Since then three other students and my classroom assistant and another teacher have caught it. Here are some pictures of the little darlings. The letter "C" was our new sound this week thus the canines and Clifford ears. The older students are dad's kids on the first day going through their supplies and getting organized.

Vacation Pictures

Nutria Canyon -- headwaters of the Zuni River-->

<--On the top of Pyramid -- we hiked up from Red Rock State Park.

Mmmm! If only we could bottle that smell! Douwe Yaalanie mesa east of Zuni...and that

incredible New Mexico blue sky.

Rocky Mt. National Park / Bosscher Reunion!

How We Spent Our Summer Vacation

The short course: We traveled over 6,500 miles on two separate trips to West Virginia / Berwyn Heights, MD and Zuni, NM / Denver, CO. We were in 18 states and the District of Columbia. We were gone from home for 4 ½ weeks, a nice respite from the humidity and heat. We spent over $530 on gas.

Slightly longer, in no particular order: West Virginia and the Appalachians are incredibly beautiful. PBS radio is everywhere in the USA. Some of the best coverage was on I-70 in Kansas. The worst coverage was in southern Oklahoma…just 2 radio stations with really bad (is there any other kind?) country music. It was 107 degrees in central Kansas when we drove through. According to a young man in a central Missouri, the humidity made the heat wave especially hard. Humidity? HA! He should come to Florida. We still don’t know the correct pronunciation of LaFayette, in Louisiana. LA fay ette; la FAY ette; la fay ette…who knows; maybe we’ll get it next time we go through. Billboards – both blessing & bane. They help when we’re looking for a gas station or restaurant, but what an eye sore! And some of the ads are like a kid with a one track mind. Ruby Falls on Lookout Mt. – could have built a house with the all the wood from those signs. The world’s largest prairie dog (in western Kansas), 59 signs for South of the Border (we counted) throughout Virginia, “Big Daddy” Don Garlits drag racing museum, Gatorland, a bazillion Mickey D’s, a place near the KS / CO border where you could climb a tower and see 6 states (one probably being Confusion), and Jim Walters Homes. We drove through a rain and hail storm in southern Oklahoma that had us wondering if we would find dents in the top surfaces of the car (we didn’t). The Bosscher West reunion at Estes Park with Rose, Dave, & Michelle Daining, Kathy B, Deb Rowenhorst, and Beth, GB, & RB was a certified riot! It was the 50th anniversary of the Interstate system and we rode over the first section of 8 miles to be completed – central Kansas. It had obviously been improved within the past 50 years. Albuquerque has some beautiful bridges over I-40; they’re really done some upgrading and the city has grown tremendously over the past 20 years. Sad things: pine bark beetles are killing many pinon pines; the amount of air pollution in Denver; our Iowa farmhouse was torn down to make way for a racetrack; changes at Rehoboth; watching Zuni dancers in a plaza of the pueblo and thinking that works righteousness is such a waste…all that effort and work for beautiful costumes and dancing, and it is worth absolutely nothing eternally. Some happy thoughts: 6,000 miles and the Camry ran like a top; no one seems to be worried about $3 per gallon gasoline; we saw no bad accidents on the roads; had great hikes on the Pyramid, in Nutria Canyon, Douwe Yalanie, Estes Park; Ponderosa bark still smells wonderfully like vanilla…if we could only bottle it! We walked barefoot across the headwaters of the Zuni River in Nutria Canyon; it was really slick clay but we didn’t fall! Kudzu really is taking over Georgia. New Mexico skies are amazing! We had great fun helping Mike & Lynda, Kathy, and Beth. It is good to be home again. I like not living out of a suit case.

Vacation Lull

So we're in between trips...June saw a mission trip to West Virginia and a Katie/Alec/Luke week-end. July is the out West New Mexico/Kathy B & Colorado/Beth jaunt. These last two weeks at home have been precious -- GB working on her fabrics and some getting ready for the next school year. Gayle put together a really amazing quilt top with an Escher type tessellation and another with a complicated quilt hanging that even had a si pa pu. I've done some yard maintenance, trimmed back the plant growth, replaced some boards on the side fence. I've also got the new scanner humming and have scanned over 1,200 slides (149 MG) with about 1,500 more to digitalize...and then I can attack all of the negatives! Converting to a new medium is not for the faint of heart, but by the end of summer I will have the B's pictorial history on CD. We've enjoyed afternoon thundershowers, had Matt & Jill & Isaiah over for brunch (they're leaving for Asia in a couple of weeks), done some reading, and stayed up late and got up later.

Here are a few pictures of the June trip:
Here's the Illinois crew putting together meals for Food for Children. They did 18 cases (3,888 meals) in 2 hours...all going to Nicaragua. On the right, the house we worked on - scraping, painting, new soffit & fascia, & some porch roof work.



We were in a supervisory, stand beside role for much of the week. The afternoon VBS had us encouraging the team and doing some crowd control...



And, of course, a couple of pictures of our favorite Berwyn Heights people! Luke loves books and talks (jabbers) about the pictures. What a delightful visit!

This afternoon we hope to stand on our driveway and see the space shuttle launch, weather permitting.

Food for Children

This coming Wedneday we're heading up to the Princeton, West Virginia area just as we did last year to spend 10 days with our cousins Mike & Lynda Gravier, home missionaries with Heaven Sent Ministries. Over the past year we've had the opportunity at both church and school to share our experiences. The result at The Christ School was two projects, one which was a bake sale initiated by two elementary age brothers, that took in about $500 for Food for Children. This is an arm of Heaven Sent Ministries that packages a rice based, nutritious meal for six people that costs $1.50 ($0.25 per meal) including shipping. These meals have been shipped all over the world to feed hungry children and were even sent South after Hurricane Katrina.

The fifth grade has a celebration at the end of the year that focuses on the end of the elementary years, a send-off to middle school, and is a fun we made it / end of the year reflection of God's goodness...and games and a picnic. My class of 22 students gave me an amazing gift. They sat me down on a picnic table, gave me a heavy duty paper bag, and each student put a roll of quarters in the bag -- for Food for Children! They said they knew that Food for Children was dear to my heart and wanted to do something that say thank you in a special way for a good year.

One of the students that I tutored in math this year was a fifth grader named Lauren. Lauren and her twin brother Steven were not in my home room but I did get to teach them for half the day. Their younger sister Erin is in 3rd grade. All three had birthdays and birthday parties in May. All three decided to ask the kids they invited not to bring presents but to contribute to worthy causes. Lauren chose a local project; Erin and Steven chose Food for Children! Through their parties these two kids collected $285 to feed hungry children. To top it off, when they handed me the money they had collected, each of the three kids gave me a $20 -- of their own -- for Food for Children. Several teachers at The Christ School also gave significant gifts for Food for Children, so we will bring over $850 with us. We can't wait to plunk all those quarters on the director's desk and tell him the story!

Gayle and I also have a "Moment for Missions" during the church service tomorrow to highlight what the mission is and what we will be doing. Our church, Conway Community Presbyterian Church is also supporting us with a monetary gift for the mission and travel expenses.

Please pray for us -- good health, travel mercies, safety while we're working in West Virginia. Pray for the teams that will be coming in from Georgia and Ohio. Pray for the local folks who will be touched by God's grace through these workers. Pray for Mike & Lynda, and their children; they have a busy summer ahead with teams coming in each week. Pray that God's Kingdom will grow.

...and another kind of growth...A pair of brown thrashers have made a nest in a hibiscus just outside our bathroom window. We hope the neighborhood cat stays away for a month. Mockingbirds tried that spot last year and the cat killed their young.

Maybe it can be my turn to post on the blog...haven't done it in so long that I'm not sure about the procedure anymore. Just have a few end of the year pictures to share from our Kindergarten Splish Splash party. The room moms treated the three teachers to a nice salad lunch while the kids had pizza! We had a hot day, but I guess that's what you want when the temperatures are in the 90's. Didn't have too many injuries, just one bumped head that bled a bit. We had the fire department there to spray the kids with the big pumper truck and the paramedic put a big bandage on the little guy and he looked like he'd been through the civil war. Of course then all the other boys decided they had some traumatic injuries too. The medic just gave them a band-aide and that put an end to their dreams of glory. I took one ride down the slide and my boys all cheered me on. One ride convinced me that there was not enough water in the pool at the bottom , but the kids thought it was great to see me all wet. I understand there are somemoms who captured the moment on video as well. Oh, well, that's why I don't teach middle school anymore.

8 Days

Eight school days left with the students. Every year it's hard to believe that we have just about come to the end of another cycle. All of the hopes, dreams, planning, tears, frustrations, and joys with this year's class are almost done. For some kids it's too soon, and for others -- way too late!

A week ago Saturday I spent five hours with two of my 5th grade students, Madisen & TR. Their moms had bought the woodworking project at the school auction back in March. They were wonderful, did a good job on their duck marionette, and learned a few things in the process about wood grain, sanding, cutting, staining, drilling. No cut fingers either!

Yesterday we had a full day...In the morning I went with 14 men and boys from church and we canoed the Wekiva River, swam in the 72 degree spring, had lunch, and then came home. We had a great time of fun and fellowship. The water was refreshing and clear, the day not too warm, and I saw a pair of green herons and a swallow tailed kite, among the usual river birds. Saw 2 gators basking in the sun and a soft shelled turtle the size of a garbage can cover. Lots of large yellow eared turtles also.

In the evening we went to a dinner with my disbanding Search Committee from TCS. It was nice to know that our job was finished and that we were the instrument that God used to bring His special choice to TCS. We had dinner at one of the committee members' houses and then went to our new school head's house for dessert. It was fun to reminisce about the events of the past 15 months. I became good friends with all eight of the committee members -- had to! We spent 2 to 3 hours together each week for months!

It's started to rain again once in a while. We had several showers Thursday, which gave us about 1.6 inches of rain. The down side is that we had a small water leak in our kitchen. I got some rubberized roof caulk and hit every likely spot on that corner of the roof. Hopefully, that will take care of things.

March in May in Orlando

Orlando had its immigration march this afternoon. TCS dismissed at 11 AM, so we had no conflicts with the car lines. The march took about a half hour to pass the campus, from 12:55 to 1:25 PM. Much of the downtown area was shut down by the estimated 20,000 marchers. First Pres had a tent at the corner of Jackson & Rosalind on the march route where they handed out free water and cups of ice. It was peaceful for the most part...couple of reports of counter-demonstrators getting into shouting contests which then went to name calling and hand gesturing. I saw several people wearing Mexican flags as drapes around their shoulders, which seemed to me to be rather in-your-face. One man had a 6 ft. pole with a US flag and another national flag attached on it side by side...tacky. The US flag should have been by itself and above any other flag.

I hope you read Senators Martinez & Hagel's proposal for immigration reform. It seems to be a reasonable and pragmatic solution to this quandry. I keep thinking of your great-grandma Holtrop standing in line as an 11 year old with her family at Ellis Island, and your great great grandparents Ver Hoef, Bosscher, and Schrotenboer who did the same thing. We need to honor the image of God in each person, pay people a decent wage. We also need people to enter legally, just like our forebears did. This is a marvelous country, truly a land of opportunity, with a great Constitution...which serves it citizens well. It's not a one way street -- get in line, earn citizenship, pay your dues, and enjoy the opportunities. Now, if we can just get the politicians in Washington to take a stand and do the right thing instead of looking at the polls and watching the wind blow...

Fundays

No school today -- we had a hurricane make-up day built into the calendar, and didn't need it, so it is a spring holiday. We went to the Florida Blood Center this morning and gave a pint each. One of the nice things about this is that we get a mini-physical. Note these impressive statistics: Mom - pulse: 64; blood pressure: 120/80. Dad - pulse: 60; blood pressure: 102/70. And yes, it was red. We get the news about our cholesterol in a couple of weeks.

I took a few pictures of the flowers behind the lattice on our deck. The yard side has a beautiful red honeysuckle in bloom and the back has a Rangoon Creeper, which is full of blooms. When these little lovelies open, they're white, turn pink, and then red. You can see one of our bougainvillea and a red rose at the bottom of the frame on the left. The close-up on the right shows the different colors of the Rangoon Creeper blossoms. Within a few days, the back will be awash with blooms!

Wednesday the assistant principal, Mark Lansing, and I took six students to a bowling alley for two games and lunch. A parent bought this for $400 at the school auction in March. So we took four 5th graders, a 3rd grader, and a 2nd grader out. During school, which made it better yet! We put the bumpers up so the games would be more interesting for young arms. Mark is a good bowler - had games of 173 & 200. He was a good influence on me - I bowled better than I ever had, with games of 145 & 173! Woohoo! The kids were great and we had lots of fun. Sorry, no picture of me bowling. The only picture of me is one that Duke, the 2nd grader, took of my backside. Definitely not blog material. And there you have it -- blood, blossoms, and bowling -- all in one week!

Spring Vacation

Camping with the Ippels at Tomoka State Park, just north of Ormond Beach.

Visiting St. Augustine, it's wonderful historic district, and of course, the lighthouse.





It's windy at the top of the lighthouse - 219 steps!



We did some hiking and geocaching in the Little Big Econ State Forest east of Orlando.

We also canoed on Bulow Creek - saw 4 swallow tailed kites! - and visited the beach at Ormond and St. Augustine. And we had great meals and fellowship together!

Class Trip

Thursday and Friday we took 42 of the 44 fifth graders to Tallahassee for their annual trip. We had almost as many parents along, which made it really fun. Honest! The kids were great, and we received many compliments on their behavior. I'd take them on a road trip again any time...

We ran through rain on the way down, but it had stopped by our first stop. Still overcast, but do-able. We went to Wakulla Springs State Park for a boat ride down - and back up - the river. Saw a few gators (why do 5th graders go ga-ga when they see a gator on a trip?), lots of vultures (they congregate along the river in the winter, sort of like black snow birds), the usual river birds, and a half dozen black crowned night herons. That was special! We also went to the Leon County Nature Center on Thursday. They have a good display of live Florida animals and birds, and great docents. I think the kids learned a great deal.

The high point for Thursday was the all-you-can-eat buffet and the trip to Governor's Square Mall in the evening. The kids got to wear their casual clothes, i.e., no uniforms. We stayed at the Cabot Lodge - nice, nothing fancy.

On Friday we had a tour of the Old Legislative Building. Lots of good stuff for kids to explore, including an interactive presentation where the 5th graders sat as representatives and "voted" on an education bill. We toured to 22 story new legislative building -- not a lot of character, but it gets the job done. The 4.5 hour trip home gave me a good opportunity to get to know some of the parents (and a granddad) that I did not know well.

Spring Break...and Then Some

Thursday, March 9: Took my elementary math team (13 3rd, 4th, & 5th graders) and a team from the middle school to The Cambridge School in Tampa for the annual Christian Schools of Florida math competition. We rented a 47 passenger coach and had 16 parents along also. Four schools attended - elementary got 3rd place and the middle school got 2nd place. Flew in to GR at 10 pm. Stayed at the Prince Center for two nights.

Friday, March 10: I had CSI board meetings from 8:30 am - 10 pm. GB spent some quality time with Uncle Paul. They had lunch with Aunt Julie, saw Aunt Cark, and also saw Paul's new condo. Mom also saw Bob at work in the art studio and they had supper together.

Saturday, March 11: I had CSI board meetings for a couple of hours and then we collected Bob and drove to Chicago. Had supper with Emily and then enjoyed a well-done The Secret Garden. Helped a bit with the set strike and stayed overnight at Emily's house. Drove back to W. Michigan; stayed in Hudsonville at Uncle Hank & Aunt Marideen's house.

The balance of the time in GR was spent visiting relatives & friends. We watched some snow fall and were glad to get back to Florida on Thursday. Friday was a catch-up day. Saturday GB had a women's retreat in Viera, just south of Cocoa on the Atlantic coast. I had a men's breakfast and then watched neice Kim, of the Calvin College women's tennis team, whup her Otterbein opponents in both doubles and singles. Sat with Uncle Tim & Aunt Pat and caught up on stuff. They're here for the week, watching the tennis team, and enjoying the sun and warmth of a Florida spring.