Teaching ... myself

Here's how the Christmas break began... We had exam week which is not exactly the most fun week of them all, but I had finished my exams the week before so it wasn't too bad. The weather reports were saying that we were going to get a nice snow and it would start that last day - Friday. Well, Friday looked fine - we had a half day because only one exam had to be given. As the kids left, there was a nice rain falling. I thought this kind of stunk because I rode my bike to school - I was ready for cold, but I didn't relish a wet ride home. I did however, haul out the mountain bike because I hoped there would be a dusting of snow for my trail ride home. This will become a bit prophetic later. Well, we teachers move to the cafeteria for our Christmas luncheon - it was nice - great food. While there we notice that in the rain are a few snowflakes.... Well, lunch ends and I check my box and take the outside path to my class. There is an inch of slush on the parking lot. Hmmm. I t

First off, CONGRATS REID! You did it, IRONMAN. Your journey was a lot longer than 140.6 miles - Thank you for letting me be a part of your journey to Arizona - I am super proud of you. Triabetes rocked the house again, 2009 - the documentary premiered and was amazing, I hear. The triabuddies (diabetic kids who paired up with Triabetics) had an amazing coastal trip. More on all that stuff in a later blog. Now back to normal family blog stuff. November and December kind of went by in an instant. Somewhere around the end of October, we all went up to Whitetop mountain to do a little hike from Elk Garden to Whitetop. This is on a rather beautiful stretch of the AT. Elk Garden looking away from Whitetop - Mount Rogers and Grayson Highlands are that way. Ash on Whitetop overlooking the transition from Blue Ridge (left) to Ridge and Valley (parallel ridges in distance). This whole area is pretty amazing - we are standing on an ancient volcano and off in the distance is old ocean f

Well, its certainly been awhile. I don't think I can begin to fill you in on the amazing journey our family has been on, but I will try to give you the short, short version. It all begins with a decision to move from our beloved Boone to Damascus, VA. We had been working on this move for the last 4 years. Our goal was to find a place where we could buy a few acres, live a little more simply, and share a house with our friends, Jon and Carole. Well, after much ado, we finally did it. Our place is located right on the Virginia Creeper Trail and the South Fork Holston river. The creeper trail is a wonderful old railroad trail that runs 30+ miles from whitetop mountain to Abingdon, VA. Damascus is about the halfway point. We are about 12 miles from Abingdon by trail and 3 miles to Damascus.. by trail. Damascus has more bike shops than roads. So needless to say, I was pleased. The late summer started was all infrastructure - fences, painting, putting in garden space that we wou