Miscellaneous Missives

I left for God's Country Friday for the weekend, so I'm putting my last three entries into one.  Technically, I didn't blog each day in June, but I came dang close.  The blog challenge has been a delight. Friday night I volunteered to serve beer at the beer ten with these two wonderful folks.  We were champion at selling, entertaining, and laughing.  It was certainly a delight. Saturday morning this group drove 90 minutes to Iowa City for the Big Rode Ride.  We then cycled in 95º weather (not including the heat index) through a heat advisory (people told us like we didn't already know it was really hot) through a hillier course than we expected.  The day was a day of winning.  I love these folks (some more than others).  Of course it included some stops along the way as part of the entertainment and experience.  These, of course, are the best part.  That being said, the riding was still fun.   Fin...

Well,  I'm still going off the synonyms from the delight definition that I posted early in this challenge.  Today's word is beezer although I'm not really sure how it fits. I guess some words aren't as fitting as other, but I've been in a prize-fight against the big black ants on my deck.  Last evening, I posted to Facebook that I took a propane torch to two ants crossing my deck which allowed my neighbors and I to meet the fire department.  I added a photo from my visit to the fire department in the fall.  Honestly, by now,  I didn't think any of my Facebook friends would believe it since I post lies (un-true) all of the time.  Unfortunately, some were worried.  Actually, I'm worried that anyone believed it.  Tonight, as I was removing nail polish, I took the nail polish remover on a cotton swab to some of them.  Anyway, it was beezer (delightful).  When I was done I gave up and went to the spray bottle in which I have my ins...

I wish it was easier to see the train to the left of the trail. Yep, bonzer is a synonym for delightful.  Today is a bonzer day.  First, I played (walked) nine holes of golf.  I followed this with 15 miles on my bike including filling in a survey for the peeps on the trail although I waited and did it when I was done at home.  After my delightful/bonzer coffee/protein drink, I did my daily kettlebell routine (better late than never). Now I'm blogging, reading, and geeking on the internet.  This evening I'll go to my favorite spin class to get some extra miles under my butt.  I wish every day was as bonzer as today.  It makes me feel super productive and energetic.  Summer!!

Today was absolutely charming (delightful).  The weather is absolutely perfect.  For one, I read Where the Crawdads Sing .  I guess it's been on the New York Times bestseller list for months.  It seems I'm "behind the times" (pun intended) because I just found out about it this week.  Anyway, it was a charming book that I read outside while drinking water and eating bing cherries.  Although I didn't give it five stars (I went with 4), it was a great summer read, and summer is absolutely delightful. 

Inner-city black families, no matter their perils, understood “that government alone can’t teach our kids to learn … that children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white.” “I have heard him say, ‘I don’t want us to have a bunch of forums on race.’ He reminds people, ‘Yeah, we can talk about this. But what are we going to  do ?’ ”  This morning I read this article about President Barack Obama by Ta-Nehisi Coates.  The article as one would imagine was marvelous.  It reminded me of all Obama did during his eight years in office.  It also took me back to January 2009 when I attended Obama's inauguration.  Truly, it was one of my life's highlights.  I also saw him on the campaign trail, and I feel delighted to have experienced both.  Drinking coffee and reading about one of the greatest presidents is a good way to start my da...

I've been partaking in berries from the grocery store for over a month, but there's nothing better than strawberries directly from the farmer at the farmers market.  Another of my favorites are snap peas.  Yesterday I went to my typical farmers market and was disappointed to find neither.  Since I don't give up easily, today I went to another farmers market and found strawberries.  They are soft and sweet, very pleasurable (delightful).  I'm still on the look out for snap peas and perhaps a new farmers market, but even the search will be very pleasurable (delightful). 

I've been trying to use a different synonym for each post in June, but it seems I messed up by using both gratifying and glorious twice.  This realization came as I was trying to chose a title that fit the delightful young adult book I finished today.  Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson was enchanting.  It really was a good read.  This book is filled with poems, pictures, history, song lists (I even made a Spotify playlist from one of the playlist in the book)... all while telling a story about two young feminist trying to make a change in their school.  

When I was riding the Midtown Greenway a couple of days ago, I passed these large portraits on the wall and promised myself I would stop and take photos on the way back.  Yesterday, I did a quick ride, before the rain, to capture this mural.  It's entitled Homeless or Homebody.  There's a delightful QR code that goes to this glorious website .  The time and work that went into putting these images on the greenway is amazing and appropriate.  A large number of folks, for whatever reason, are still homeless and living on and around the greenway.  A big thanks to the Midtown Greenway folks and this photographer for bringing their stories to light.  I'm glad I went back to get pictures, but more importantly, I'm glad I looked at his website.  We need to take care of each other and ourselves to the best of our abilities. 

The weather has been cool which is not to say it's the same as delightful, but cool is a synonym (according to the list) of delightful.  Yesterday was cool in temperatures and cool as in delightful.  I biked outside and inside.  In the morning, I rode across and beside the Mississippi River and enjoyed its beauty.  In the evening, I decided to challenge myself by attending my favorite spin class.  It was cool (and I was delighted) when the instructor was legitimately pleased to see me.  He was also a bit surprised and stated that it was too warm outside to see me in class.  My buddy also emailed me our two day itinerary to ride the Elroy-Sparta State Trai l in Wisconsin.  It has three tunnels .  At least one is a mile long and completely dark.  It's 110 mile ride from Winona, Minnesota to Reedsburg, Wisconsion, so we'll be crossing the Mississippi River on this ride too.  I'm excited.  It's going to be a cool ride.

Remember the lemon and blueberry piece of cake that I received in the beginning of the month.  Last night my same neighbor sent a text as I was leaving the bike trail asking if I was home.  She delivered this wonderful raspberry (with walnuts) muffin to my door.  I saved it for a breakfast delight and feel I made a wonderful decision.  I like my new congenial (delightful) neighbor.  At first I thought I liked her old retriever Gracie better, but the truth is that Gracie doesn't bake. 

Again, I'm not sure how wining is a synonym for delightful, but here it goes!  Today I left my first session part way through since the guy was showing videos that I could scan through on a rainy day.  I decided to go outside.  It was delightful, and I was winning.  Actually, I skipped the last session too, so I could ride my bike, also delightful and winning.  When I returned from my bike ride, I had my favorite post ride drink.  I mix decaf coffee with chocolate whey protein.  Once again, I was winning, and it was delightful.  My day was fairly delightful, but I had to skip part of my professional development to make it happen.

Summer mornings are delightful.  My new Bookmarks magazine came this morning, and I perused it while drinking my coffee.  As always, the Bookmarks magazine was enchanting.  A friend, who follows me on Goodreads, reminded me that I hadn't been reading much which is unfortunately true.  Today I will need to use this magazine as a motivation to read more.  It's time to read more. 

This is one of my absolute favorite pictures of me and my dad.  I hope all dads take the time to read o their children.  After yesterday's ride, we stayed in Des Moines, and I headed back up 35 to Minnesota.  On the way back to Minneapolis, I stopped by my dad's house and took him out for lunch.  We talked about a variety of things and had a glorious time.  Father's day is kinda delightful.

Today a group of my cycling friends and I rode a ride on trails near Des Moines, Iowa.  It was a long day filled with heat, rain, laughter, riding, and drinking.  For a lot of the ride, I rode next to a high school friend who is very amusing to ride with.  One would say he's entertaining.  At one point I said I needed to bring a notebook on future rides to ride to keep his great "one liners."  We were trying to outride the rain that we thought would be coming.  As we rode through this small town called Yale, my friend asked if we should stop to see if there was a bar.  I said we should try to out ride the rain.  When sprinkles hit, I relented, and we went to the bar already quite full with cyclists waiting out the rain.  Within 15 minutes a down pour arrived.  Riding with someone who is funny and smart is a delightful, entertaining thing.

Tuesday a guy came to take down fiberglass shower panels in my tub and put up new.  It was not splendid.  He was there 12 hours.  In the process of putting up new walls, he knocked off my toilet paper dispenser.  We made a deal that since I wanted the towel bar and toilet paper dispenser to match, I'd purchase them if he installed.  Well, his installation was crappy and unfinished.  The towel bar was installed ridiculously high.  I withheld $50 from my Venmo payment and asked that he come back and finish the job.  He couldn't give me a great time frame, so I did it myself.  I bought spackle/hole filler and new anchors and took to the job.  Between Wednesday and Thursday, I did the job, let it dry, and rehung both.  I was quite satisfied with the job.  It was gratifying to know that I could do the job by myself.  This morning, he sent a text asking if there was a time he could come back.  I explained my process, m...

Wow!  It's already the middle of June, and last night was my first time on the golf course last night.  When I entered the clubhouse, the guy behind the desk said that he hadn't seen me this year.  I told him it was my first time out.  Since he knows me a bit, he followed up with, "And the first time swinging a club."  Indeed he was correct.  He smiled and wished me luck.  My round wasn't horrible for my first time out.  Perhaps I didn't actually smash the ball (at least not always straight down the fairway), but it was smashing.  Being out in the sun watching ducks and geese on the river while getting exercise.  What could go wrong?  Well, I did lose at least two balls on the course, and we only played nine holes.  All in all, it was quite delightful.

Throughout the school year, I collected stars from a colleague when I did something good.  Unfortunately, part way through the year she stopped.  When she stopped, a student started adding to my computer.  Towards the end of the year another student started taping on images.  It was quite fantastic, but it's summer time, a time to rejuvenate and refresh.  Although the stickers and such were delightful, it's time for a clean computer, so they have been removed.  I am hoping that someone next year thinks I'm worthy of additional stars.  Another delight is Billlie Eilish .  I'm listening to her on Spotify as I blog about delights.  #winwin

My morning routine in the summer is similar to my summer routine, but it's greatly slowed down.  The events that take 90 minutes during the school year take at least 2 1/2 hours in the summer, and it's a delight.  I have more time to read through blogs and news articles while I sip instead of drink my coffee, and it's indeed a delight.  This morning I read a blog about delight, and it was lovely.  Actually the author had read a review of Ross Gay's book, The Book of Delights .  Gay wrote an essay about something that delighted him each day for a year, an entire year.  The author of the blog decided to write about beauty.  Maybe beauty would be another blog challenge in the future.  For now, however, I'm satisfied with writing about delights. 

Today I'm writing in one more graduation card and two father's day cards.  It's not that I have two fathers, but since I can remember, my dad always gets a serious and a humorous card each for each card worthy event.  It's fitting.  He typically asks which is the serious and which is the funny.  As I was putting cards in envelopes, I noticed the MadLib type fill in the blank on the back of one of the cards, the humorous one.  This is the best idea ever.  It's fetching.  Every envelope should be as delightful.  I'm going to start looking closer at envelopes before I buy cards.

Neat is a synonym for delightful, and it also describes my t-shirt drawer.  I took time to reorganize and declutter the t-shirt, short, sports bra, bandana drawer to ready for summer.  First, I took the five or six school shirts that I will never wear this summer to the basement.  Next, I took the t-shirts I probably won't wear to a nearby drawer.  The ones that I wear will re-enter the t-shirt drawer.  The others will be shipped off to a Goodwill type store.  I'm giving them one more chance to be a part of the real t-shirt drawer.  It felt so good that I also tackled the linen closet.  #winning . #delightful  #neat

Spiffing is one of the synonyms for delightful, and I think it's a delightful word although I'm not sure I would use it in conversation.  Today one of my first summer break tasks is to clean off the table.  The only thing that should be on the table during the summer months is my cycling stuff.  Everything else needs to be cleared.  The first thing I did was to write in all of the graduation cards.  I like to use the Life is a Sacred Journey quote/poem by Caroline Joy Adams.  Next, I'm shelving books.  Although I read most books on electronic, some are only in paperback and others are teacher type books that have been returned.  At the bottom of the list was Wild Hundreds by Nate Marshall.  Honestly, I think I've already posted about this, but I'm going to one more time before I shelve it.  Nate Marshall is a poet who was featured in Louder than a Bomb .  Since then, he has written his own poetry.  The bottom of the poem...

I am not a fan of bagels. When our administration thinks they are being nice by supplying bagels, they are mistaken.  Donuts are always more desirable, delightful, and of course, gratifying (a synonym for delightful).  At last night's staff get together, a colleague and I were once again sharing our disgust about today's morning breakfast treat being bagels instead of donuts.  The administration was still at the get together, so I shared my views rather loudly.  As my colleague and I discussed who was going to pick up the donuts in the morning, one of the administrators admitted that they had bought donuts instead of bagels.  My colleague and I immediately arose from our chairs and gave a high five across another colleague.  #winning #lastdaydone #readyforsummer

Yesterday was the last day in class since tomorrow is activity day, the end of the year field trip.  My students spent one last day looking at the media and were really disappointed when they realized I wasn't grading their presentations.  I wasn't disappointed.  There was no way I was grading one more thing... just saying.  Plus, they were all entertained and focused all day which was the only thing I was looking for.  During my last class, one group was researching either the Portland Stabbing or the Las Vegas shooting.  In both articles and the video, the guy says, "Get the F*ck out."  They were the group closest to the door and kept shouting, "Get the F*ck out."  It was legit since they were proving they could find it in more than two sources and was completely satisfying.  I made no effort to curtail their inappropriate enthusiasm.  In fact, at times I even "egged them on."  Last night I entered my grades and am delighted to...

My car is pretty grand.  Yesterday as I was driving home on 35W, I noticed the odometer change to 227227 which is also pretty grand.  I think I did a fairly decent job getting this photo although some would warn against behaviors such as these. Of course, I agree, but I really don't like to post to my blog without a picture because having a picture attached is always delightful.  Perhaps I should rethink this since not only was I careless with my phone usage, it also looks like I was speeding, but only a wee bit.

Diverting is listed as a synonym for delightful, but I'm not sure I'd agree.  It doesn't matter; I'm still using it.  Although I officially have all of my grading done with three days to go, I'm still exhausted.  Luckily, we have delightful outdoor furniture at school.  Lately, I've been sitting outside as a diversion while I'm doing grades or whatever.  Last week we even thought about writing a grant and wrote it while sitting outside.  The lawn furniture, more importantly the sun, has been diverting. 

I haven't been on my bike much lately.  My excuses are many and probably somewhat shallow.  Yesterday,  I decided to go for a ride in the middle of the day to break up my work that needed to get done going into this last week of school.  The ride was "greatly to one's (my) liking."  My hope is that I remember this tonight when I come home from work on go on another ride that will also be delightful. I also think the delightful days of June blogging will help me get back into a productive routine.  Part of that routine is listening to the Slowdown podcast.  The last lines of today's poem read: and behind you can see the flat surface of the river the face of summer, blue and smooth

My neighbor brought me this cake with lemon and blueberries this morning while I was sitting on my deck drinking my coffee.  She was very pleasant and delightful as is the cake.  Yep, I'm sorry that's really all.  I'm eating this rich cake as I post.

Another blog challenge has arrived for June, and I am delighted! We'll be blogging 30 days (or whatever) in June about delightfulness.  Isn't this delightful?  What's not delightful is someone of the student work I'm grading, but then some of it is quite delightful.  I guess I just need to focus on the delightfulness of it all.  I also might try out this synonyms of delightful for titles throughout the month.