CATCHING UP

Well, it has, indeed, been a while. My beloved fall and winter seasons are now morphing into spring and that will swiftly give way to the heat and humidity of summer soon enough. To quickly update, the Christmas season went pretty well despite it being the first without my father. We, of course, thought a lot about him during that time - and still do think and talk alot about him still. I think it is therapy for us to reminisce about him. There will still be a small event as his memorial bench is placed at the cemetary in the next few months.

CHURCH - Things at Faith UMC, as usual, started out slow as January rolled along. It picked up, though, with some of our members participating in an event at our large sister church called "Festival of Choirs." As several of our members participated, several others of us attended the event and it was really awesome. We have now, just started preparations (albeit later than we want) for our Easter season presentation entitled "The Power of the Cross." We'll be presenting the bulk of this on Palm Sunday. It looks like we might have a pretty good presentation choir to carry this off, too. We had an exciting rehearsal this past week.

THE HOUSE - I have to say that, as far as the renovations of the past couple of years now, we're pretty much there. I don't know if you ever get all the way "there" with a house, but pretty much everything's in place. I'm still tweaking the decor and then the outside landscaping and such is next on the agenda - a lot to do outside.

WORK - Things at school where I work are really busy right now. We are in the midst of the dreaded FCAT testing right now and seem to have a lot of drama happening with many of the students. With the current financial and economic situation, we're all a little on edge to see what next school year is going to bring. So far, our school board has not been talking layoffs, but rather furloughs and salary reductions. I'd personally rather see the latter than to not have a job, so we'll see how things shake out in the coming months.

BUCS - I have to make some comments on the "new" Bucs football team. As we all know by now, Jon Gruden and company were all let go back in February and the new coach Raheem Morris and his colleagues have been about the business of completely cleaning house and starting over. There is the good and the bad with this, of course, and the season could really go either way. I'm one who doesn't like diving off into wholesale change, but prefer to change in phases. I think it works better that way. After so many years of the Bucs stinking and being the lowlife of the NFL, the Dungy and Gruden years established the team (along with the Glazers too, I guess) on an upper echelon footing - especially with Monte Kiffin and the "Tampa 2" defense that became so popular. Now, that is all changing quickly into whatever we see this fall. I guess you can't go on with the same things forever and ever and these kinds of changes are maybe healthy - but I fret that this major change in the consistency of things there may possibly lead to some down and unfulfilling years - possibly. I hope that not the case, and we'll just have to see.

MY FATHER

1938-2008

As much as it saddens me to sit here and write this, I know my dad is in a better place and is no longer suffering.

Most of my memories of my dad, when describing him, are to say that he was a hard-working man. He worked for well over 30 years to pay off a house and raise a family of three kids. He didn't have a lot of free weekends, as he worked most Saturdays, too. His big rough hands and tan skin were testaments to his hard work. I could never re-pay all that he did for myself and my brother and sister. He wouldn't expect it anyway as it was done out of love.

He was an outdoorsman - always preferred being outside to being inside. Even in the evenings when I was growing up he would spend time outside looking at the stars. Pretty much anything outdoors, he loved.

Fishing was one of his big recreational activities - he LOVED fishing. He would take us kids out fishing with cane poles in fresh water and I remember quite a few times he took me out on his little john-boat to fish in lakes and rivers. He was pretty good at cleaning fish too, as I recall.

Now, life with my dad was not all peaches and cream. There were lots of times that we argued and periods when we just didn't get along at all. He could say some abusive things at times. He was a good disciplinarian when we were kids. It seemed like he always had a "switch" cut from a tree that he would swat us with when misbehaving. He always made us say "yes m'am" and "no ma'm," and call our neighbors by their last names (Mr. or Mrs.).

He was pretty good at barbecuing chicken on the grill and had his secret sauce that he liked to use. He would cut small palmetto stalks that we used to roast hot dogs with in the back yard on Friday nights. I also remember when he turned an old refrigerator into a smoker and we had that in the back yard for years.

When talking about my dad, it wouldn't be complete without talking about our Ponce De Leon trips. Every year we would head "up home" as he called it to our family reunion. He would always tune up the car and put a couple of new tires on the week before we left. It was one of those times that our whole family piled in the car and were all together for that 3 or 4 days. He knew all of the back roads and the old families that lived up there. He could tell you who owned which pieces of property and how far their property lines went and all that. He would always get us safely home on Labor Day - just in time for the first day of school.

He had some peculiar habits and other trademarks - one of which was his train whistle. He had a way of doing a train whistle sound with his throat that I've never been able to duplicate - nor anyone else quite like he did it. Then there was his snuff. He liked to chew and spit, much to our dislike most of the time. He had a high-pitched laugh that he always did, too. When in a really good mood, he liked to sing an old country song called "Easy Lovin'."

Daddy was good at what he did. He was a tree expert by trade, working for a tree company in the earlier years, then with the county for his last 26 years of working. He had two elderly women that he did long term work for, too. He never earned any college degrees nor was more formally educated than high school, but he knew his trees and how to work with them. Two great reminders of that are the two oak trees he planted at the house - one in the front and one in the back. They are huge and towering now, much more than the little seedlings he took such great care of the day he got them and brought them home.

I take pain in the fact that he never got to totally enjoy his retirement. Not too long after his retirement from the county was when he first had serious medical problems. He recovered from those, for the most part, for about 3 years, but then things recurred and one thing led to the next - he ended up in and out of the hospital and into rehab for a period of time. He did finally get to come home for one last week about 3 weeks ago. In a wheelchair by this point, he was even making plans for Thanksgiving. He commented every morning about what a beautiful days we were having. It was on Monday night October 20th that, after supper, he fell in the bathroom and went into cardiac arrest. He was stabilized by paramedics and rushed to the hospital, but he never regained consciousness. He had lost too much oxygen to the brain when he went out at the house and he would never never recover. There was just too much wrong with him and they couldn't fix everything.

And so it was that a golden heart stopped beating in the early morning hours on November 4th. God saw him and it was time for Daddy's suffering on earth to end. Much of my family mentioned how surreal it all seemed, We all know, however, that we WILL see him again. For now, it's a great loss for us here, but I'm sure God's trees are looking a whole lot better now!

BUSY SUMMER IS ALMOST OVER

Well, summer isn't technically over, but now that I've started back to work my summer break is officially over and we're getting ever closer to my beloved fall sesaon. I have to say this has been the busiest summer I've had in a long time! Much has happened from the first trip to South Carolina to my friend's sudden marriage to the Daytona trip to VBS to all of the work around the house, my summer USF course and my father continuing to not be well. So, it's been a full one.

DAYTONA TRIP - This was interesting one, for sure. Sherry and I started out travelling up to Florence, SC so she could get some continuing dental work done - so we left two days earlier than we usually do. Since I was in the middle of an online course, I had work and tests that had to be submitted by a certain time, so I had to be working on that while travelling. At the hotel in Florence, there was no wi-fi, so I ended up having to go to the library in town. That was a pleasant surprise as it was about a 3 year old facility and was beautiful! Sherry's dental work didn't turn out to be too long, as it turned out, so we had a little more time to enjoy Florence. It was a good thing, because the rest of the trip would prove to be challenging. We left Florence on Wednesday morning and spent most of the day heading down to Daytona for the music conference. After we had let the Jacksonville rush hour and were about 75 miles north of Daytona on I-95, we broke down - the car just died on us. So we had to get towed back to Daytona, make decisions on what we wanted to do. We ended up renting a car there to get around as Sherry elected to get her car back home when it was time to go. She ended up spending much of the time there sick and not able to attend the first day of the conference. We did make it home safe and sound, and I was able to make all but a half day of the conference.

VBS - the week after I got back from the trip we had Vacation Bible School at Faith UMC. It went pretty well. This was my first year doing music there - and really doing VBS in many years. Our theme was Surfin' Through The Scriptures - a surfing theme, as you might have guessed. This was something of an initiation for me as many of the folks volunteering have been doing VBS there for many years - so, I was one of the new kids on the block. It was a learning experience, and we pulled it all together on Friday of the week for our closing program.

USF COURSE - I spent a good amount of the summer taking this course - a women's studies course. I have found that with these online courses, you sort of have to take the first couple of weeks or so to figure out the "groove and routine" of things. They're all a little different - some use videos, some use the textbook, others use articles and all of them use discussion boards and/or discussion groups. I got an "A"

MY FATHER - My Dad continues to be infirmed because of his now various illnesses he has. He's been in a Rehab Center (which is sort of like a nursing home, but it's temporary) since about last May and had to have subsequent surgery on his foot to allow for better blood flow. He has a huge sore that is extremely slow in healing. He was back in the hospital earlier this summer to receive a special antibiotic, then released back to the rehab. He has recently been hospitalized again because of a major fluid buildup in his body - so much so that he was having trouble breathing. He has since been having that drained and treated. I saw him a couple of days ago and he didn't look great to me, so we'll see how things progress. I have to admit, it's starting to get a little "scary" for me.

THE HOUSE - The construction and renovation part is about 99% complete (still waiting on a new front door). I've been in the very slow process of unboxing all of the stuff we've had in storage and getting things put away - or in some instances throwing stuff out that I just don't need anymore - mostly paperwork that I've saved for the last 20+ years. It's getting closer every week and now there's furnishings for some of the rooms and window treatments that are the next leg of the project.

LOOKING AHEAD - Now that I'm back to work and it's been a week of that already, the students will be returning some time this week - depending on the weather. School has actually been closed for what was supposed to be the first day for the kids because of evacuations and the school being an evacuation center, but I'm sure we'll be back to work later this week. For Faith UMC, we'll be soon turning our attention to our Fall music and Christmas presentation that is entitled "On This Very Night." This is a compliation of various seasonal and spiritual songs with narration. We'll, of course, be involving all of the ensembles. Our Kick-Off night this year is on September 3rd, and we're hoping to have several "new" folks come out to be part of the music ministry at Faith!

OK - I guess this is enough for now (even though there's more!). As you see, though, it has, indeed been a busy one this summer!

SUMMER BLAHS

We're now full into summer and things are happening and changing. Life seems to have its ups and downs and there are some definite "downs" for me as of late. These are personal "downs" but I have found throughout my life that it always helps to talk about it and, for me, to write about it - much of which I have in my personal journal - but it helps to do it in this format too. At some point in time, we all move into different seasons of life and so it has been for one of my best friends, Christy. I have known Christy for six years now, she teaches at the same school I do. Through that time, we have formed a special bond as friends, especially since we are both single and have a considerable amount of down time on our hands, at times. She has been the person I could go out and eat with or just get together and order a pizza or go shopping, or whatever. We could always do this because we had this commonality of being single and independent. Well, she and her boyfriend of one and a half months went to Las Vegas last weekend and got married! They did not tell anyone except their parents. This hit me really hard and has, as they say, "rocked my world." So it is that I am in a "down" time right now in my life. When things happen suddenly like this - especially major things - I do not take it well and really need a lot of prayer and time before things return to some normalcy in my life. So, I'm dealing with this as best I can as I continue through the activities and events of this summer.

DAYTONA TRIP - One of the bright spots coming up, however, is my annual trip to Daytona Beach for the "Music Explosion" Conference put on by Kempke's Music. It's a great time to "get out of Dodge" as it were and into a neat environment. Before I do that, I will be travelling to Florence, South Carolina for the second time this summer. My friend Sherry is having to go back up for more dental work. So, we'll head there for a couple of days then to Daytona. It should be fun.

FAITH UMC - Ministry continues through the summer there, although we currently have a lot of folks out for various reasons. We're continuing on as best we can. Vacation Bible School is coming up week after next. I will be doing music for all of the grade levels, and that should be fun. It's been a long time since I've done a VBS, so I'm looking forward to it! I am also in the midst of fall and Christmas musical planning, now, too - as is usual for me during the summer. I have one musical that I'm about 95% sure that we'll be doing, but I always like to wait until the conference is over before I make a final decision on that.

SCHOOL - I haven't heard anything from the middle school I teach at in terms of what I'll be doing next year, so my sense is that I will return and do what I have been doing. My school district has been in a major financial situation where they have had to cut some $43 million from the budget, which means, at leat, no raises for next year - but also cutting a lot of positions. They are saying that there will be more of that to come for the following school year too.

HOUSE - The house is mostly done, at this point except for a couple of things. I have been going through boxes and things in storage in the effort to get the house put back together. It's interesting and challenging to find homes for all the stuff we have! I'm hoping to have it mostly back in order by the end of summer.

CLARIFICATION

In one of my previous posts, I was talking about my mother's place in the panhandle. Along with that I posted a picture of their shed. That picture was only of their storage shed, NOT their actual house. My mother was afraid folks would think she ahd her husband live in a storage shed. I don't have any pictures of the front of their place, but I do have one that shows part of the back porch area of their place, and that is displayed here. So, no, just to clarify, they don't live in a shed!

SUMMER BREAK

Well, now summer break is now upon me - my break from teaching for about eight or nine weeks. As you know, summer is not my most favorite time of the year because of the general discomfort from the heat, but I do make the best of it and try to use the off time to my advantage in accomplishing things that I don't have time to do during the school year. So, what am I up to? Here are some of the things I hope to get done or try to get done during my break (and these are in no particular order)

1. CATCH UP WITH OLD FRIENDS: I have several friends that I don't see that often. I'd like to at least talk on the phone with them, if not get a chance to see them.

2. MEDICAL: I need to find a new primary care physician (my other Dr. moved away), try to get some dental work done as well as getting my eyes updated.

3. HOUSE: Yes, the house. Even though we're pretty much down to the front door and some shelves in the laundry room, there still are a lot of things in boxes and not much furniture. I need to get all of those things organized - find "homes" for everything and get my home office put together the way I want it.

4. CHURCH: I need to get into the music room and continue on with my ongoing project from 2 summers ago - and that is getting music filed and things set up there the way I'd like. Planning for the Christmas musical needs to happen, too. I'm pretty well set on what we're doing, I think, but I always like to wait until after the conference before I make a final decision. Also, I'll be doing Vacation Bible School in July this year for a week. I'll be, of course, doing the music. I'm looking forward to that - it should be fun!

5. MUSIC CONFERENCE: I plan to attend the Music Explosion Conference in Daytona Beach, once again this year. This will be my 8th year (I think) for that. This year, the conference has been totally re-vamped, which in some ways I hate, but in other ways it was very predictable and routine - so this should be different.

6. TRAVELLING: Other than the music conference, and a trip I took last week to South Carolina, I don't really plan to do any other travelling until Labor Day Weekend (Ponce De Leon) because there just aren't enough funds for that.

7. COURSE: I'll be taking a women's studies course as part of my educational update so that I can get certified in social studies. It'll be a 6 week course and very intense as a result. that starts in a couple of weeks.

8. REST: So, in the midst of everything above - I do hope to have some time to rest & relax, too.

OTHER DOINGS

Like I said above, I just got back from South Carolina last week. I went up with Sherry as she went to a dental clinic up in Florence to get dentures. She was afraid she may not be able to drive back as a result of the pain from the procedure, but she did, indeed, do the majority of the driving both ways. Her procedure was generally successful, although she now says that the plates are not fitting correctly - so she may need to make another trip up.

Things at Faith Church have been moving right along. Robin, our accompanist had an opportunity for a big promotion in her full time job so she had to leave the accompanist job. After interviewing and hearing a few applicants, we now have a new accompanist - Shelli. We are very excited about having her on board! We'll soon be going into summer mode where we'll rehearse every other week during July and August.

SPRING TIME

As we enter into April, I finally get some time off albeit still busy doing a lot of things that I haven't had time to do otherwise. We're getting into the time of year that, honestly, is not my favorite, as you probably know by now. Spring is nice with all the new greenery blooming and all, but it is also the time of year that we start to get into the warmer weather in ernest. Now, I have seen some strong cold fronts come in at different times in my life - even as late as June, but generally this wanes about this time of the year as temperatures stay in 80s during the day most of the time. As I write this, I getting ready to leave for a few days in the panhandle, so I'm looking forward to some time away, but I always look forward to getting back, too.

TRAVELS: Yes, heading north for a few days again. I'll start off by going up to see my sister and her family in Thomasville, GA on the first day. After that it will be back down to see my mother and her husband in the panhandle. They live on 5 acres located almost in the middle of nowhere. Actually, they're not REALLY in the middle of nowhere, but all of the people who live where they do have like 5 acre parcels of land each, so everyone there is spread out - so it seems like there aren't too many people aeound. Actually, all of the folks that live there have an organized community association and all - so it's not really quite as rustic as it might seem (except for that clay road!!).

AROUND THE HOUSE: Well, things are just about all done renovation-wise. It's been a year - a rough year, but things are coming to fruition. Not that there aren't still things to be done - there are. Things like the front door, shower door, countertop laminate and some trim work still to be done. I remember a year ago when I was forced to "camp out" in the front bedroom with a meager (and old) microwave oven and no air conditioning. At one point, I was going to camp out in the back yard, but decided against that in the end. Last weekend, they got the last of the interior light fixtures done. There is only one more outside fixture to be hung, then all of those will be done.

FAITH UMC: We just finished our Easter presentations for this year. With Easter coming so early this year, we really didn't have too much time to prepare - but the folks rose to the occasion and really came out with an awesome presentation. We did a work entitled "The Power of the Cross" on Palm Sunday. I had a chance to look at the video this week and I couldn't believe how good it sounded! It really encourages me about the level of work our music ministry is capable of - especially when we actually have more time to put it together. We also did an event called "The Early Christian Meal" this year, too. This was actually something that was in the works before I came on staff at Faith UMC. For a first year, it was really fantastic. We can go from that and really tweak things for next year. Now, we enter into a relatively benign part of the year, where there won't be any really special presentations for a while. This gives us time to sort of catch our wind and begin to plan some things for the Summer and (believe it or not!) start preliminarily looking at Christmas.

SCHOOL/WORK: We're on Spring Break this week, but after we get back, we'll be in the "home stretch" toward the end of the school year. This means I'll be having quite a few difficult kids between now and early June. With all of the economic problems, I am admittedly concerned about next year and whether I'll have a position next year nor not. With what I do, I am not in a position where I can just slide into somewhere else teaching-wise. I do pray that what I do isn't affected.