Reflections on This Year

As the year comes to a close, I want to reflect on all the things that stand out in my mind about this year. I have seen a few sites where they show the Year in Review in pictures and thought I would do a year in review in words and pictures. First, here the words and then a link at the bottom for my favorite pictures of the year. So here it is:

January:

· My 90 year old dad was recovering from surgery and I was so afraid when I left him to go home that I would never see him again.

· Our two rental houses were vandalized and cost us thousands to fix up.

February:

· We had snow! Fresh snow is always exciting and the best part is that it doesn’t last long where we live!

· We spent a lot of time dealing with repairmen and the insurance company. What a headache!

March:

· We did a lot of camping and hiking. On our hike to Whiteside Mountain, poor Bo slipped on the snow and ice and broke his shoulder.

· Finally, the houses are repaired and tenants are in them. I was so thrilled that was behind us!

April:

· We went on the Joyce Kilmer Camping trip with the group but after one night we came home when the heavy rains set in.

· We went on another cruise on the Carnival Liberty to Grand Cayman, Cozumel, and Jamaica.

· We visited my parents in Florida and my dad looked great! What a relief!

May:

· I worked in the Synergy Garden (community garden) on and off throughout the summer and fall.

· We did more hiking and camping which I loved.

June:

· I attended the Upstate Technology Conference.

· We got our ham radio licenses. Don wanted to get his and then talked me into “just trying” but I didn’t think I had a chance of passing. Boy, was I surprised! He is KB4DON and I am KB4HKR.

· Don began suffering from a bad case of chronic hives and continues to see a doctor in hopes of curing them.

· We went to the Standing Indian Campout with Bill Robertson and had a wonderful time.

July:

· I taught two courses for Furman: a Practicum in LD and a Procedures course (hybrid: online and face to face once a week)

August:

· We began the Master Naturalist Class through Clemson which lasted 12 weeks.

September:

· We raised a ham radio tower in our back yard with the help of other ham friends.

· We went to Universal Studios and I was able to ride on the Harry Potter ride. There were no lines so we rode all of the roller coasters many times.

· I attended a knitting event in Orlando.

· I bought my first drop spindle which I never thought I would ever do. Then I had to learn how to spin. (Thanks to my knitting group, I got hooked!)

October:

· We bought a new refrigerator (actually 2 but had to return 1 since the delivery men said it wouldn’t fit in our house!)

· We went to Karen’s house and saw a baby alpaca 30 minutes after it was born! (That was exciting!)

· I bought my second drop spindle.

· I attended the Southeastern Animal Fiber Festival and took a drop spindle class. Now I have 3 drop spindles of different sizes.

November:

· Our Transition Cooperative put on the event: Passport to Success 2010 and we had almost 400 students. It was an exhausting but rewarding endeavor. Students learned what options would be available to them when they graduated.

· I went to visit my Aunt Daisie and cousins Becky and Nancy and Nancy’s family. I haven't seen them in awhile so it was really nice to reconnect.

December:

· We went on another cruise for 2 weeks. (back to back on the Carnival Dream). We went to Nassau, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten the first week. The next week we went to Cozumel, Belize, Roatan (Honduras), and Costa Maya.

· We spent a few weeks with my parents in Florida.

· We visited my cousin Wayne who lives near my parents one day and another day, we visited with my friend Bev, from Illinois who was in FL with family.

To see this year in pictures, click HERE.

Posted on the Successful Teaching Blog by loonyhiker (successfulteaching at gmail dot com).