roof makeover

roof makeover
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor

I have been anxious for several weeks now about re-roofing the backside of our rental house on the Thanksgiving break. Will the weather hold? Is there enough time to complete it? Well, after an iffy day yesterday, we decided to go for it today. We had lots of help with Tim and Josh deLacy helping and we completed the whole thing in one day: shake tear off, plywood sheeting and roofing. The fact that our current renter is a roofer helped make it go quick and smooth, especially when it came to shingling. We will wait until sumer to do the front half of the house as the shakes are not in as desperate shape. Thanksgiving was spent with the Bulthuis family at Doug and Pam's. It was a great afternoon and evening, and we were able to introduce Rob Nelson to the Lynden connection. He and his family just moved to Lynden as he has a new job at the border.

Norwegian birthday party

Norwegian birthday party
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor

Esther's brother Mike and sister-in-law Marti both turn 50 this year, so Kay organized a big surprise party for them. It was a Norwegian dessert party with lefsa, krumkaka, marzipan cake, etc. About 50 guests came to the afternoon festivities. Mike and Marti were completely surprised as the friends that hosted the party pretended to pick them up for an afternoon in Vancouver; but after picking them up, pretended to have left their passports at home, dragging them to their house. The plan worked well. Thanks, Kay. On the way back from Lynden today, Markus and I joined a Harper Church tailgate party and Seahawks game at Qwest Field. For a while it looked as though the Seahawks might stay with the Redskins, but all to no avail as they choked with a last minute possession.

PLCs

The educational world is notorious for its in vogue jargon and acronyms. A current one is 'PLC' - Professional Learning Community. The last two days, I have been in Seattle with hundreds of other educators being instructed and inspired in how to develop PLCs in our schools. Essentially, PLCs are teams of educators (grade level teachers or subject unified teachers) that work together to analyze existing student performance and develop strategies to improve student learning (how's that for educationeeze!) More simply, it's teachers working together rather than just working in their own 'kingdoms.' Research shows that schools who have developed strong collaborative teams are having significant improvement in student performance. I actually enjoyed the conference and believe that our school will benefit from more structure in our collaboration. I got to experience the Seattle commute for a few days. The Vashon foot ferry makes it convenient for me to walk out my door onto the ferries which puts me downtown. It was about a half hour walk to the Weston Hotel, which was enjoyable exercise. I'm sure the commute would get old eventually; especially considering the hour and a half time each way.

Leavenworth

river walk - Leavenworth
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor

This past couple of weeks have been a little hectic and I hope to get back in a regular blogging routine. My MacBook is back from the Apple store after having a hard drive replaced. I have been a little disappointed with the frequency of 'issues' with this laptop. The other four Apple laptops that I have purchased for the family in the last seven years have not had any 'issues'. Esther and I went on a day trip to Leavenworth last weekend. It was damp and cold, but we did get our Bavarian fix for the year. We also had the opportunity this weekend to visit Quest Church in Seattle where Markus attends. It is a merger of a Korean and Covenant Church near the Ballard bridge. The congregation is predominantly young and Asian. Pastor Cho had a very good sermon. He is a passionate and articulate communicator.

my beautiful bl?..brunette?

my beautiful bl?..brunette?
Originally uploaded by Southworth Sailor

The scariest thing that came to our house Halloween was already in it! In honor of 'crazy hair day' at Orchard Heights, Esther gooped up her locks. I much prefer the blonde, but maybe it's just my familiarity. My accomplishment for the weekend was hauling my sailboat out of the water for the winter. Blue Wing is now cleaned and securely 'moored' beside the garage. Much of the last couple of weeks has been spent at our former house. The past renters of five years (has it really been that long?) moved out and we needed to get it ready for the new renters. Well, the new renters are in this weekend. They are a young couple with two young children. As we were cleaning this week, we decided that if we had to, we could move back. The 'lightness' of the main living area has a strong appeal for us.