Dave on the Mackinac Island Ferry
Happy Birthday Dave!
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Tag Archives: Michigan
A Master’s Salute
Lake Boats Meet at Sunset
Anne started her long-term substitute-teacher position on Monday. The regular teacher has left on maternity leave and won’t return until January. So, for the next three months, Anne will be one of the four fourth grade teachers at the elementary school. This will mean a whole lot more work for Anne, but it does come with a significant bump in pay, teacher’s pay that is. 😉
Anne was given a school Mac laptop and she already has homework. She has twenty students of her own, some of them she is still learning their names. She’ll also teach round-robin fashion two subjects, science and social studies, to some of the other classes, while other teacher(s) cover other subjects with her students. One lucky scheduling quirk is that she has first period off. The students do art, music and gym during that period.
The big difference with this assignment as opposed to her regular substitute teaching is that for next three months, she’ll be working with and teaching the same students. She will do parents-teacher conferences later this month. At the end of this month comes Halloween and a possible costume party. As a floating sub, holiday parties are one aspect of teaching that she doesn’t get to do too often. Then there is Thanksgiving and Christmas too. Whoops, I mean winter break, with traditional ethnic songs and customs. To say that Anne is very excited about all of this, would be a huge understatement. It will be a great challenge, but I sure that she is up to the task.
First Quarter Moon
First Quarter Moon
Last Saturday, was the first day of Fall, which coincides with the autumnal equinox. It was also when the first quarter moon last occurred. Last Saturday, was part of a dark and stormy weekend in Ann Arbor, but it did clear for a while on Saturday night. This was fortunate, because our 40th high school reunion was held then, in an open air venue.
Next time, at our 50th reunion, our class will have mostly morphed from working adults to retired seniors, except for a few holdouts. These superannuated workers may want to continue to work, but most will do so, because they have to. The Great Recession will ensured that more than otherwise will continue to hold jobs ten years from now.
Most of our classmates had children, but I was surprised at how few of them spoke of grandchildren. I didn’t see a single baby picture. Maybe Anne has a different take?
The airs of pretentiousness have faded with each decade’s reunion. With the passage of time the need to impress former classmates continues to recede. Combining all of the city’s schools into one reunion ensured a good turnout. Future reunions will have no such expediencies to arrest the declining classmate population.
Art Opening
UP FOCUS on the ARTS
Beach denizen Moe had an art opening this last summer, up in the Soo. She told us about it while we were down at Doelle’s place. It was held at the UP Focus on the Arts studio. She had a beautiful show and I got her to pose in front of her signature piece, “Cat Tails”. Moe is a fiber artist and most of her shown work was in the ‘hooked rug’ medium. I would have loved to have had that piece she is seen standing in front of.
On the LA art scene, Dan has scored a place. It is located in downtown LA, in the ‘art district’, an old factory area that is being reclaimed. He has been couch surfing since he gave up his summer cat (and rabbit) sitting gig. Kudos to Annie and Amanda, his twin guarding angels. He and roommate Josh will move in by the first of next month. Dan sounded so excited about this place. We are so glad for him too.
Job prospects include UC and Webster postings, but those are long-term prospects. There are the gallerys that he has been working this summer, but they haven’t made much money for him. He has a stop-gap Photoshop job for now.
Moe with her ‘CAT TAILS’
Andy Warhol Soup Cans
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Jane’s Andy Warhol Tomato Soup Cans
Flying Down the Highway
Fluffy Clouds
We had our 40th high school reunion finale last night. No Bob Seger, he was a no-show. The party was held on a tennis court at the Ann Arbor Golf & Outting Club. Fortunately, the rain abated and we enjoyed a clear, calm and cool evening. Strategically placed gas burners took the edge of the evening’s gathering cold. It was a lot quieter than the previous evening’s party at Frasers. This much facilitated conversation. It was catered by Knights.
We were slow to get launched from Ann Arbor this morning. Having two breakfasts will do that. First breakfast was eggs with Bubs and Harry and second breakfast was Starbucks at Jane’s. We did finally get on the road and made good time. The sky was pretty for most of the trip, filled with fluffy white clouds. Unfortunately, the clouds disappeared by the time that we closed on Saint Louis. This left us staring into the setting sun. That’s what you get living in the Gateway to the West.
There was one event in today’s otherwise uneventful drive home. We were coming down on I-69, nearing Indianapolis, when a police convoy passed us. They were transporting something very dangerous (like convicts) or very valuable (like money), or both (drugs). The convoy was led by a police armored car. It was the only marked vehicle in this parade, but it was easy to identify all of the police vehicles. Indiana law enforcement plates have a distinctive yellow officer’s badge emblazoned upon them. Directly behind the armored car was a pair of what I initially took to be UPS vans. They were the new kind of van that is overly tall and narrows towards the top. I think Volvo makes them. They were painted UPS brown, but had no other markings. Behind the vans were at least a dozen unmarked vehicles, all sporting yellow badge plates. After the convoy had passed and just before we hit Indy there was a sudden and unexplained backup. Immediately several more unmarked cars sped past us, bobbing and weaving through traffic. This made Anne nervous, but that is the last that we saw of any of them. They were a mystery.