Old With the Old, In With . . .

Frosty King is our local fast food spot. Fast food even before it was called that. It was formerly the Jolly Cone, or the JK. You have to be old to know that. And no, I am not just kidding. The hangout on warm summer days for those growing up in the last century. I'm sure much mischief was hatched from this spot on the corner of Pine and D in Exeter.

If you look closely at the second picture you will see new construction being done behind the JK, er Frosty King. If you look closer at the older building you might see something amiss on the side. The story is someone hit the building and knocked it off the foundation and now a new Frosty King needs to be built. Also notice even though it was hit by a car, it is still standing.

Just goes to show that some things can get old and run over, and still work.

Treason or Patriotism?

"The difference between treason and patriotism is only a matter of dates."

"Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes."
Alexandre Dumas, père, 1802 - 1870




On the last day of the Tour de France, it is fitting that quotes come to me from a French writer. That is no coincidence if you believe like I in no such thing as an accident. But as I am want to discover more times than not, my mind seems to take a different tack than others.

The first quote hit me today in a funny way and seemed to be calling out and emphasizing some topics I have been thinking about. History is full of people that at one time in their life are a hero and they become a goat at another time. How many can you think about that led the charge and became a hero, only later to be beheaded for an event under a new leadership.

I am not looking forward to the start of school this year. Truth be told, starts are difficult for me in good times. This start is the worse so far. Forget the difficulties of an unpopular new schedule coupled with the constraints of budget problems in the district, state, and country. All that is complicated with the current tone of test scores guiding education instead of gaining knowledge. In our personal lives we have a college graduate looking for a job, a son preparing to be deployed overseas, another son leaving home to college 12 hours away and a daughter entering her last two years of high school. The pulls and tugs are coming in many directions and the same time. In no way am I pleading for sympathy, I am trying to lay out the mindset we are in and many others are in also. Makes for interesting times.

But school, or any work place, that is experiencing change like we are reminds me of a cage fighting ring just before the fight begins. As one of the older staff members, I feel sometimes like the diplomat from the previous administration that the new regime is stuck with. Sometimes it feels like I am from three administrations ago. New date, new profile, hopefully same old dude. That is what the first quote spoke to me. So much so that I stopped reading and ignored the following quote. I was cutting and pasting the first quote when I read the next one and the 2 x 4 hit me between the eyes.

I hope I have the strength and courage to pick myself off the rocks.

Childhood Games are Important, Too

Interesting take on what was.

Fly Safe, Young Stallion

Sam is on his way back to NC after his leave. It was a nice time and too short as always, but the comfortableness to sit and do nothing was great. I think he enjoyed his time doing nothing and I can learn from him and his ability to relax.

X, Y and Z People

These are broken baseball bats near the batting tunnels at Lane Community College. If you want to eat an omelet, you have to break a few eggs. Well, to learn to hit a baseball you have to break or wear out a few bats. I used to bring home broken bats and fix them, but they eventually would break again. I like this homage to the work of being a hitter.


I had a conversation with someone recently and I thought of the different personalities, desires and motivations that we humans bring to our lives. What makes us do what we do, or better yet, what is the intrinsic and extrinsic ambition or inducement that gets us to do what we do over time. The conversation is regarding longterm vocations and avocations.

Why would a person be a longtime runner or cyclist? Why would a person choose to travel the world seeing new places? Why would one person seek to eat at the most expensive, elegant and renown restaurants; while another would be happiest catching a local fish and grilling it over a fire at home to serve with homegrown vegetables? And I guess I'm considering those people that have a choice rather than those that do not really get to choose.

These questions have been pondered for almost as long as my students think I've been alive. But I'm pondering also what would make a person change their bent. Let's forget the Type A/Type B personality descriptions. Let's use X, Y and Z to describe the people.

An X person serves others. They believe their purpose is to serve others is different ways. They may be a pastor, teacher, local service club member. They can be as Mother Theresa, or the director of the local food closet or pound nails for Habitat for Humanity. They serve others, sometimes at the expense of themselves or family.

A Z person is about serving themselves. At their worse they are hedonistic and self-serving. They strive to create, live and complete their own Bucket List. They drive nice cars, vacation at the "correct" places for their social class, have the correct toys and seems to skate through life in bliss.

The Y person tries to balance these two paths, or haven't made a choice either way, or they choose from both of these like a smörgåsbord. This person could be striving to become either an X person or a Z person, but haven't fallen over to one direction or the other.

As I earlier said, the discussion is really about longterm choices, or rather what would make a person change their longterm choices. We were talking about a person that is making a choice to stop doing something they have done for over 25 years and abandon that subject at least in a public way. They have been a X type of person and have served others for many years. They have tried to help others learn and better themselves, even when those people didn't always want to learn. The time now freed will be occupied doing some things that are newer to them and possibly rekindling long lost activities. What would possess a person to do this? What about not using their learned skills? Do they really think this is wise?

Or maybe more of us should do this.

Reminds Me. . .

Just because you can, doesn't always mean you should.

On The Road

This last week, or part of it at least, we traveled to Eugene, Oregon to take a look at the town, Wilson to take his placement test and look at apartments for Wilson to live in this next year. Maureen will post elsewhere, but I wanted to do a "quick and dirty" look at the trip.

Day 1 started slower than expected, even by Garver Standard Time criteria. We eventually were on the road and moving northward. We saw many miles of such scenery, though this is an example of Northern California/Oregon highway. California south of Redding was browner and hotter.



This is the first time in a while, the last being September in Georgia, that all six of the 'Zoo traveled in the same vehicle. The longest then was an hour and a half. This time the shortest was four and a half hours, and the longest being thirteen hours. As you might imagine, many interesting "discussions" took place. As alluring as it would seem to have six intelligent humans confined together within the walls of a wheeled cage, there was the fact that we know each other very well. The license plate game took on a new intensity after about 200 miles. Remember this journey was about 1250 miles. Music choices and tastes varied, and at times were argued about at length.

The first day ended in Mt. Shasta and the Kellogg's. Ken, Steph and Michael were a great relief to see. The next day we were slow getting away, but eventually left the environs of Lake Siskiyou. But not long after a stop at Weed six miles down the road commenced. This is the location of the Garver boys first viewing of Toy Story with the Kellogg boys, years ago. The old theater is now converted to a music school but the town hasn't seemed to be much different.



The second day ended in Eugene and this was our home away from home for the next few days. Dinner that night was at the Excelsior Inn, and a better dinner couldn't have been had. This is the first restaurant we've been to that advertises to be a part of the Slow Food movement. Slow food Eugene can be viewed here. Wonderful dinner with those same intelligent six after being freed from the box of a van. Interesting how being unconfined helps the spirits.



The Willamette River flows through Eugene and splits the town from itself and Springfield. After a day wandering around, the roads started to make sense, sort of.



We left on Thursday for a marathon trip all of the way home. Six hours or so into the trip we stopped at Ashland for lunch. Annie was too young to remember previous trips, but the boys did. Maureen and I think it is one of our favorite towns.



We eventually made it home to Exeter, safe sound, tired and greeted by the town message board.

July and Baseball Go Together

Don't they?

Among other things, Independence Day has many meanings and brings to mind numerous thoughts. Though the Founding Fathers were seeking the right to govern by their own choices, independently of another group, I think of the dependencies in my life. I can think of no better than the family under the roof I choose to park beneath.

Work?

When is work not work?

When you enjoy it.