Conclave!

Literally, under lock and key...

We're doing the best we can here on the Monterey Peninsula. Luckily, our city has fewer than 5 instances of COVID-19 at this point, and possibly none. There are worse places to be stuck.

I'm finishing up my last year at Watsonville High School. Yes, I'm retiring. This was not the way I expected it to finish, but online teaching has been a real experience. It's all been asynchronous, and the students who have chosen to be active are actually doing quite well. The level of engagement is not that different from what it was in the classroom. The biggest difference is there are no behavior problems to deal with!

This year was also our 25th wedding anniversary. Oh, the plans we made. Death Valley, Bryce, Zion, Vegas to recreate our honeymoon, then a big party with all the children and grand-children in the Paderewski Room at the Paso Robles Inn this summer, followed by our first feraogsto in Italy, with the Sagra de Strascinati and Corteo Storico in Monteleone di Spoleto. The first two celebrations are cancelled, and it is almost certain that Italy will not be possible in August.

The Viola da Gamba Society Conclave in July has been cancelled as well.

So it goes...

Tempis fugit... Again!

I am sensing a pattern with my post titles...

Time flies when you're having fun! Teaching is an all consuming activity, that's for sure. Just coming up on my third year teaching 6th grade Math at E.A. Hall in Watsonville, and I've been enjoying every minute of it.

The last year has been an eventful one. My sister Karen died unexpectedly last October at the age of 77. Still trying to make sense of that.

Elaine and I spent Thanksgiving in Hong Kong with our son and his family. The weather was perfect, with little rain and lots of bright blue skies. For Christmas, we went to see our friends John and Cary in New Jersey. Cary is a distant cousin, and John is like a brother to me. It was wonderful to spend the holiday with them.

Spring break found us in Cabo San Lucas. It was our first time there. In fact, it was our first time being in any part of Mexico south of the Ensenada area. We survived a time share pitch, and shared some fun time on one of the bay cruises with a family from Paris and a Ukrainian couple from Chicago. On top of that, we drove up to Todos Santos and had a drink at *the* Hotel California.

Summer has been even busier. We started with several days on Maui visiting uncle Trevor and aunt Faina, staying in a couple of delightful yet incredibly different B&B's. After just a few days back, we left for our new "I Love America" tour, driving to Ohio to see our daughter Lia. We stopped in Arizona for a couple of days to see a recently retired colleague, and then headed east on I-40 and I-70 to Columbus. We stayed over night in St. Louis, where we took in the giant parabola. The return trip was I-70 clear to I-15 in Utah (beware that last stretch - no services for over 100 miles!). Did one night at the Luxor in Vegas, then off to see our granddaughter who had just flown in from Hong Kong in Santa Barbara.

We actually stayed put for a couple of weeks, dividing our time between home and our place in Paso Robles, but then flew up to Seattle for a couple of days as our granddaughter had gone up to that area to visit a brand new cousin. We saw the Space Needle for the first time, and took the Underground Tour. Highly entertaining and highly recommended!

This past weekend I attended my 40th Carmel High School reunion. Luckily, that was held locally. The attendance was quite good, and it was nice to see so many old friends.

Only two more weeks until school starts! Who knows, maybe I'll have time to make another posting before next summer...

The Ides of March

Well, almost. My brother Leonard Johnson passed away on March 14, 2013 at the age of 66. He was found expired in his apartment. We still don't know the cause of death, but all the indications are that he wore himself out on alcohol, cigarettes and drugs.

Rest in peace, Leonard.

Kyrie Passamezzo Antico

Camerata's performance of my Kyrie was a great success! Here is the Sunday afternoon performance at the Butterfly Church in Pacific Grove.

Time continues to fly!

I have been remiss in keeping up with life's happenings here! In short, Seren and Derek now have a baby girl named Hadley, who is 11 months old today. We spent a wonderful Christmas with them this year in Hong Kong and Singapore. I am teaching 6th grade math in Watsonville and enjoying every minute of it. The Camerata Singers will be performing my Kyrie Passamezzo Antico in their March concert, so I am excited about that. Here's a link to an instrumental performance of it a couple of years ago.

Grandma and Hadley

Summer with the family

Busy summer so far. We spent a week with Derek and Seren in Paso, and are off to see Lia and Joel-Henry next week in Ohio! After that it's off to Portland to see Morgan. Luckily, Sofia is close so we saw her for the 4th of July. As you can imagine, all this travel precluded us from singing with the Bach Festival this year, but we've been working in a few meals with our friends from around the country.

I'm still involved with the job search. Slim pickings in education this year in this area, and a lot of people trying to get employed. I was fortunate to get a temporary gig at a middle school in Monterey for the last quarter doing 7th grade math, which was a lot of fun.

Almost finished!

Student teaching is all done. 8 weeks of kindergarten was a challenge and completely exhausting, but I got a lot out of it. My master teacher Kathy is incredible. I am amazed how many things can be made from cut out tracings of little hands! Everything from turkeys to menorahs, Santa Clauses to Christmas trees. Every once in a while my legs would feel very heavy - I would look down to see what was up, and there would be a small person clamped to it! ;-)

The California credentialing process includes four "performance tasks." I got back my final score today, and I have amassed the requisite number of points. All that is left is the presentation of my portfolio at the exit interview, and it looks like that will happen tomorrow. Then all I have to do is find a job...

October update

Student teaching has been great fun. I have been lucky enough to be in with an excellent master teacher in a 6th grade English/History core at the local middle school. There is one week left to go with her, and then I get a new assignment. Don't know what that is yet, but I should find out soon! As far as my actual schooling is concerned, there is only one more class session to attend. I still have two of the four "tasks" to complete, but the hard part of those has been done. These "tasks" are basically write ups of a series of practical situations one would encounter in a classroom. They are the result of California trying to raise the bar as far as teacher credentialing is concerned, but most people think they are simply irritating busy work. I count myself among their number. Still, if all goes according to plan, I should be completely done by Christmas.

On the fun side of things, we just got back from visiting uncle Trevor in Hawai'i. Always a pleasant experience.