This post is a potpourri of happenings
from the past week... in a nutshell:
I read this book on our most recent car trip, it was a gift from a friend; and it's a book that I simply cannot stop thinking about! It is the true story of a music teacher, a Ukranian immigrant named Jerry Kupchynsky, who held his students to the highest standard of excellence without heaping on any undeserved praise. I was a student during the same time period that "Mr. K" was a teacher and I recall this time in our history (1960's, 1970's) as one when the teachers were always right and, heaven forbid, if we ever came home and complained to our parents about how hard or seemingly unfair our teachers were our parents would take the teacher's side. Perhaps, because this is the time frame from which Mr. K's story is told, I can relate to it better from that perspective. I dare say that any teacher who employed the method of instruction related here, in today's schools, they would find themselves unemployed. But, interestingly, his former students can now point to the high expectations of their music teacher for the successful lives that they're living today. Co-written by a former student and Mr. K's daughter this is an easy read with a powerful lesson to ponder... it's a book you won't soon forget.
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My husband's cousins came to town for a far-too-rare visit (it's been eleven+ years); we had a wonderful time eating together and catching up on Tuesday evening... the catching up portion could have gone on forever! It was blatantly obvious to me that we need to be much more pro-active in the effort to make reunions happen; time passes much too quickly, as evidence of that I offer these photos, below...
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Mason has celebrated yet another birthday!
I believe he liked his gift, he was good at it too;
observe his concentration on the bag before the pitch. |
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We joined him for dinner and birthday cake on his big day;
where, oh where, have the last 6 years gone?
I must have blinked... and I tried so hard not to.
Happy birthday, sweet boy~
Life is Good! |
2 comments:
Just returned from a family reunion last weekend and it has been SO many years we couldn't count. Only TWO of our "seniors" (to us) remain so we thought we'd better do it before it was too late. It was an amazing weekend and we're planning to do it again in 2 years ... such fun! I am of your generation and had I complained about a teacher my dad/mom would also have taken the teacher's side. Amazing that we grew up to be such wonderful adults after such an "awful" childhood where every whim wasn't satisfied, we were told that the world owed US something instead of the other way around and that respect for fellow citizens of the world was way down on the list. As my husband says ... it is all about attitudes, values and expectations. Good post Mrs. G ;-) Linda
The board looks great!
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