As my summer comes to a close...

Summer is always my favorite time of year...no school, no students, no lesson plans...just lots of time to do whatever I want to do. Which usually means trying to pack in as many things as I can. But now it's the second week of August, which means my final week of freedom to do as I please.

All in all, it was an excellent summer. Spent much of June visiting with my mom both here in Ohio at my home and at her home in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina. Then on to Center Hill Lake and Edgar Evins State Park in Tennessee for our family reunion week. Great fun, especially since our children now have children of their own and it was quite the gathering of the babies and toddlers:)

                                            Mom with all 8 of her children


Mid-July brought my girlfriend week on Marco Island, followed by a week of...dare I say it...teacher workshops with Muse Machine, one of the true gems of Dayton's arts scene. Despite my reluctance to give up the joys of summer, I'm excited about the great opportunities my co-advisor and I will have to share with our middle school students this year.

The first week of August my husband, Bruce, and I spent in Rochester, NY. Our daughter, son-in-law, and grandson moved into their first "real" house. No more cramped apartment quarters at last! Dear hubby and I came home flat out exhausted! A 90-year old house may have lovely woodwork, hardwood floors, and leaded glass windows, but the unkempt garden and yard required lots of hard work! Tara and Matt still have plenty of work to do to get the house exactly the way they want it to be, but I'm proud to say that the rock garden in front is going to be fabulous. And Aiden is happily claiming his "turf" in the new neighborhood!