Dear friends,

My four online sections open at midnight, and I just finished loading content (10:44 p.m.) – not a matter of procrastination (at least not this time), but a matter of being spread too thinly between work and family obligations. Somehow it all gets done – but often just in the nick of time.

I’m already getting emails from students, so it begins. I have missed the routine and structure of the regular semester, but not necessarily the always-overwhelmed feeling. Trying to get (and stay) on top of it all. There are lists everywhere.

Thought for the day: Failure is an event, not an identity. You experience failure sometimes, but that doesn’t make YOU a failure. Write that on your heart.

Blessings,

Annette

Dear friends,

It’s been “all class prep, all the time.” I’m teaching 4 online sections in the fall semester, which starts September 1. That always sounded like a long time away, but … it’s Wednesday! So I’m working hard to get everything up on E-Learning.

Me, making a video:

I could just copy over the prior semester and change the due dates, but I’m always trying to improve, so I look it all over carefully and make lots of “tweaks.”

I’m looking forward to having students again. Very soon now!

Blessings,

Annette

Dear friends,

It was a fantastic weekend because I got to see my daddy. I was finally able to make a visit to his assisted living facility and we spent some time together. I miss him and love him so much.

He will be 97 next month! And while he needs some help with everyday tasks, he’s still relatively healthy and doing great.

I was able to bring him a picture of my grandma and grandpa (his parents) that I found at the old house, and we put it on his shelf next to his clock. It brought a tear to his eye. He said his mama and daddy are watching over him.

This is how I remember them. Yes, grandpa liked loud prints and plaids. And I’d forgotten grandma was so pretty.

I hope your weekend is going well.

Blessings,

Annette

Hello friends,

Worked on cleaning out the attic at mom and dad’s today, which left me filthy. Also I banged my head on the rafters a few times, so I’ll probably have a nice bruise tomorrow.

Long (university) meeting this afternoon – I’m on the committee that makes decisions on grade appeals and hardship withdrawals, and since the summer sessions just ended, we had a lot of cases to consider. These meetings always leave me feeling exhausted.

Fall must be coming – look what I saw at the supermarket!

Blessings,

Annette

Dear friends,

Another day spent driving “up north” – I’m now in the U.P., working remotely while getting my parents’ house ready to sell. When I was small, coming up here meant visiting grandma and grandpa. In more recent years, it meant seeing my parents. Now that my mom has passed away and dad has gone into assisted living, my ties to this area are quickly slipping away. It’s kind of bittersweet. Part of me is getting really tired of driving up here every few weeks, but I also keep in mind that the day will come when I no longer have immediate family here.

My brother and sister-in-law and I spent some time tonight sorting through old pictures. I found this one of my Brownie troop at Greenfield Village. My mom was our leader. I am in the back row, second from left. Front and center, in the double-breasted coat, is my friend Lori.

And here I am with Lori recently. Strange to think how long we’ve known each other.

I also found this one from my 7th birthday party. I’m still in touch with Jean (far left) and Debbie (far right). Wow, we were so little.

Going through old pictures can rouse a lot of different, and conflicting, emotions. But it’s good to remember who we were, and to cherish our longtime friends.

Blessings,

Annette

Dear friends,

Today I returned to campus for the first time in many months. For the past couple of years, I have had a secondary office in Waldo Library – these are made available to faculty, on request and approval, as auxiliary office space for special purposes such as writing and research – and I had received notification that I had to move to a different room. There’s some extensive rearranging going on over there, so I packed up the little room where I wrote my dissertation and first book, and moved stuff down the hall.

I’m fully vaccinated, and I also masked up.

On the way into the library, there’s a beautiful patch of the WMU flower, the brown-eyed Susan.

While at the library, I was able to catch a glimpse (through the third-floor windows) of the construction of the new student center. It’s turning out to be much larger than I had imagined:

I like the fancy vertical panels. It’s shaping up to be a really attractive building.

Inside the library, there were quite a few people behind the Information Technology help desk, showing each other things on computer screens – looked like a training session maybe. Getting ready for fall.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with errands (picking up a prescription, dropping off donations at Goodwill) in preparation for my next trip to the U.P. We moved dad into assisted living at the end of July, but there’s still a lot of work to be done at the house. I’ll be working remotely this week as I finish prepping my classes for the fall semester, which begins September 1.

Dinner was Naan pizza (400 degree oven, 10 minutes):

Wishing you all a beautiful evening and a restful night. Be well.

Annette