Tried out Picture Trail again. This is as close as I will get to a plasma screen TV.

This looked like an interesting site with many possibilities. I first thought of using it to create a timeline of a person's life or a family timeline. Then I thought about adding in local, national, and world events. This is just a brief idea using my father and his life and a few events that occurred during his life. http://timeglider.com/t/80bea87c005d8ab9?min_zoom=25&max_zoom=50

Clara's mother took pictures every month for the first year with Clara, a string of pearls and her blue wedding shoes. She sent them out to everyone. She also took some other pictures as well. Here are just a few.

Here is a short piece with photos from my mother's 80th birthday back in '08.  I used picturetrail.com

The outpouring of goodwill has been tremendous in our area the past week.  Three wild fires have been burning.  Over 400 firefighters from towns and counties near and far have responded to our call for help.  National Guard, County Road Crews, helicopters, and planes have all helped.  Many have lost outbuildings and pasture and crops, but very few, if any homes were lost.  Our school is about 10 miles from the Wellnitz Fire.   We had smoke for awhile but then the wind changed.  Some of our staff and students had to evacuate, but all are home again. 

Two weeks of school gone by and I'm really just beginning to get the hang of it.  Teaching Reading Recovery this year.  It is a scripted program and getting the routines down is as difficult for me as it is for the students.  It like learning your lines for a play.  Right now I am tied to my book.  Each day gets better.

We have new teachers, new databases, new students (of course).  Since I was unable to go to in-service days I am trying to get everyone on board.   I catch teacher's in the hall, make handouts for databases, and attempt to learn all the students' names before Halloween.

There are times when we want to do everything and life throws even more at us.  That is what July did to me.     After four weeks of teaching summer school, June 30-July1 was the last weekend of getting together with my Lesley University cohort.  It has been a hard, interesting, challenging year and a half.  On Sunday I headed to Denver to take the train to California to see my mother and family. 

July 3, Mom was not doing well.  Her health had declined greatly over the past month or so. Some days good, some not so good.  Get a daycare provider set up for the days my sister works.  

July 17, Get back home after two weeks and spend a week getting caught up on the house and very neglected vegetable garden and my class work.  Start looking ahead at the new school year and gear up for Digital Connections Boot Camp.  

July 24-25, Digicon12 gave me a whole new set of challenges both personal and in education.  This blog being one of them.  I am glad the website is up.  I need it to remind me of all the things we talked about.  Workshops and conferences give me so many ideas, but when I return home I have trouble remembering all those great ideas.  Now back to real life - weed pulling, Lesley classes, laundry, getting the library ready for school.  Just two weeks (including inservice days) to get ready for the next year.  

July 30, Then life throws in a curve.  3:00 AM Monday morning I get a call that my mother had passed away.  Sure am glad I made the trip early in the month.  Will now go back to Calif for the memorial service, see family and friends, then hit the ground running, ready or not, on Monday, Aug 12 -- First Day of School.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.  Isaiah 40:31 

Summer has gone by so quickly.  June was spent teaching summer school for four weeks.  Then it was off to Scottsbluff for the last weekend with the Lesley cohort.  This is the last class we have as a group.  We all have two more electives to take in the Fall term and then we will have our Masters in Education, Technology in Education.  Then it was off to catch the train on Monday morning out of Denver.  Now I could relax a little.  Spent 10 days with family in California (So. San Francisco).  Very nice break from the hot weather of Nebraska.  Too bad I could bring home some of the evening fog to help cool things down.  Two weeks and in-service days begin.  Just enough time to catch your breath and hit the ground running.

On the downhill side

We are in the fourth quarter - 32 days of school remaining.  I finished all the paper work for the spring book fair.  It was a great success.  In addition to getting some books for the library, we also purchased a book for each of the elementary students.  We will give them out at the Award Ceremony on the last day of school.  It will be a good start to their summer reading.
Finished the quiz bowl events.  Our upperclassmen team finished second in our conference tournament.  The second team of all freshmen made a respectable showing.  The middle school teams did well.  They had some tough competition since this is the first year for 13 of the 14 members.  Also half our members are sixth graders. I am hoping to get some more events lined up for next.