Summer Time Blues

No, I'm not referring to the "Summertime Blues" (1958), a 12-bar blues standard song by Eddie Cochran and Jerry Capehart about the trials and tribulations of teenage life in America. (Song and artist information is from Wikipedia.)


I'm referring to the beautiful blue water in the swimming pool.

Janna has been inviting all of us over to her apartment to swim in the pool.

Kira has been going for 'Water Babbies' lessons at a local swimming pool. Do we have a potential olympic swimmer?

That Teacher Thing!

My brother recently wrote to an issue in one of his blog posts. Something about the Good, the Bad – no make that the Good, the Stupid (see his blog post for Sunday, April 6, 2008 by clicking on the link). The post dealt with some recent news stories he had seen or heard concerning educational type issues and the good or bad (stupid) results which follow. I’ve noticed that my brother and I frequently do similar things and this is one of those things. I tend to focus on education related news items and pay close attention to those stories. In fact, I had heard both of those same stories in the news and had some of the same thoughts as my brother concerning the issues related in those stories. I recently read a Letter to the Editor on the Editorial Page of the Houston Chronicle. This letter dealt with a tendency among many in this country to place the blame for the failures in education on teachers rather than on any personal, family, or social issues which might be involved. Please read that letter ‘Tired of being Scapegoat’ for the entire story. In her letter to the editor the writer refers to ‘Back to School’ a previous editorial about the No Child Left Behind Act. I agree with the writer of ‘Tired of being Scapegoat” wholeheartedly!

Now I’ll get to the point of this whole story. I’m trying to figure out if this is a family thing or a teacher thing. I believe this is one of those ‘teacher things’ since I taught school for a number of years before becoming a school counselor. My brother is also a teacher and has also been a principal and administrator in some of the districts in which he has worked. My sister was also an elementary school teacher and had worked at both private and public schools. Well now wait a minute. Now this is starting to sound like a family thing! How did we all end up being teachers? Neither my mother nor my father were teachers. I do remember though that they were both frequently at school for various reasons. My mother was in P.T.A. and I believe she may have been P.T.A. president a time or two. My father always came to school any time there was an event like the Fall Carnival or May Fate Dance. That was where each class in each grade level learned some sort of dance like a May Pole dance or Square dance. Each grade in turn went out onto the playground to perform their dance for on looking parents. Wow, what an event! Maybe that is why I hate to dance but, that is another whole topic.

For more information about my brother and his family as well as pictures of my sister you may visit his Blog at Horst Household Happenings. He has a Picture Monday thing where he posts old pictures from our childhood. Some of them or pretty interesting and they are a quant reflection on past times. They show what it was like for us growing up in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. Now there is the History teacher in me. Maybe it is a 'teacher thing' after all!

Innocuous Suggestions!

I recently suggested to my brother in one of his Blog Posts that I liked the color 'Blue' in his Blog. See his Blog by linking here with 'Going Green', Thursday, March 27, 2008 or with the Horst Household Happennings to the right in Favorite Places and go to his post for that date. I indicated I would give him a few references which would explain my preference for Blue. Well, here goes . . .

Blue Hawaii: The first of three Elvis Presley movies filmed in Hawaii.

Blue Light Special: A discount store uses this phrase to signify their in store specials or sales.

Blue Jay: Popular bird in North America noted by its bright blue coloring and notable song pattern.

Bluebonnets: The Texas State Flower - I'll let the picture speak for itself!









Blues Jazz: Popular jazz music style also known as 'the blues'. My preference is New Age or Modern Jazz, but I do occasionaly listen to blues jazz.

Blue Ribbon: This refers to some high quality or highly rated item.

True Blue: To be loyal or faithful. This also seems to be popular as a song or album title. A number of companies also use this in a variety of slogans or promotions for their company or for their products or services.

Blue Moon: This refers to a rare occurrence or event.


Blue Angels, Blue Velvet, Blue Bayou, Blue Ridge Parkway, Blue Sky, Blue Water, Blue Man Group, Blue Oyster Cult, Jet Blue, Blue Ray, American Express Blue, Kelley Blue Book, Blue Jeans, Blue Crabs, Blue Cross-Blue Shield . . . . . . . . . . . .


Gee! When I suggested I liked Blue, I thought it was a rather innocuous suggestion. When I started the research for this Blog I didn't realize what I was getting myself into. I thought I would simply "Google" a few phrases and be done with it. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I,ll be more careful before I make another of those innocuous suggestions!

Please note that I have not included any links (except to his original Blog Post which got this whole thing started) in the Blog Post above. I did not want to deny you the opportunity to try it out. You may link with 'Google' (this and his link are the only links) and type in any of the above phrases and see what you get. Try it and you will see what I mean!
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Blog Tag!

I was recently tagged (Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2008) by my brother on his Blog! (See Waco in the column of Favorite Places to the right).

Blog Tag? What is this all about? I give you 5 -7 unknown or little known but interesting facts about myself? Who wants to see that stuff? Why does anyone want to know somthing like that about me? If it is unknown or little known how could it be interesting? Where am I going with this? I don't know.

I guess I should get into the spirit of this thing. Apparently it goes something like this: I give you some of those unknowns about myself and then I tag another blogger to continue with the game. Well this should be relatively interesting and maybe even fun.

1. I like to listen to a popular late night radio talk show Coast-to-Coast AM.



2. My favorite music band/group is Chicago.



3. I like to read Science Fiction and Fantasy, non-fiction (history, political science, and science), and biographies and autobiographies.



4. My wife and I like to visit natural areas to picnic, hike, ride bikes, and view birds and other wildlife. See the Favorite Places links on my blog.



5. I like to watch a variety of movies. I like all sorts of action and adventure, science fiction and fantasy, popular and current drama, but my favorite movies are old soap opera classics from the 1950's and 60's. These movies were about those taboos and social mores of the times. One of my favorites is A Summer Place (1959) starring Richard Egan and Dorothy McGuire. Speaking of movies . . . . .



6. I had a secret crush on Hayley Mills when I was a kid. Remember Pollyanna (1960)? Note: Richard Egan was in that movie also.



7. I once shook hands with Roy Rogers! He was the headliner at the Rodeo at the Heart of Texas Fair and Rodeo once when I was a kid. As he rode by on his horse Trigger, he shook hands with many of the kids who came down to the rail and leaned out. I was one of those kids! I'm not sure, but that may be my hand sticking out at the left edge of the picture. Sorry, but it looks like the photographer was more interested in Roy Rogers than me. But thats O.K. So was I back then when I was a kid. Wasn't life grand as a kid?
   
   
   
   
   
   Now for the fun part of this. I now take delight in tagging 2 of my favorite people

Janna and Kari .

Tag You are it! Now tell us a few unknown or little known but interesting things about yourself in your Blog and then Tag someone else.