And it's a wrap...

Finally, the writing center book is finished and the cover has been finalized. This book, like no other, has been a battle. I learned a lot of lessons from writing this piece, from organization to fighting the tedious back and forth with informants. While writing, I was reminded of the late Donald Murray's words at the beginning of his chapter in my book Teaching the Neglected R. Murray wrote, "One of the many gifts of the writing craft is that our apprenticeship never ends." True that.

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Bailey's Alex

Bailey and his Alex
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We have the good fortune to welcome Alex from Germany who's visiting us for a week... yet another brother for Bailey to torment and to beg for belly rubs. Alex attended Mountain Valley High School this year; he played soccer, raced on the ski team, and battled it out on the tennis team. He also enjoyed a cooking class at the high school. Last night, we had a small dinner party here for our dear friend Brenda Sassi (below) who's moving to North Carolina next week to be close to her daughter Katie and her children. At the dinner Alex joined right in with conversations, and that was special since all of us were over 60 years old. It's fun to see a teenager handle a unique situation like that with such ease. Today, he walked down the street to watch the Trek Across Maine--a charity event with around 2000 bikers. They're riding from the mountains of Maine to the ocean during a three-day ride. One thing Alex may not love about Bailey: this morning, our rambunctious pup  slammed into Alex's bedroom at about 8 a.m. with a howl! Just what a teenager needs on his first few days of summer holiday. But really, it's just Bailey's way to say, "Welcome, Alex."

Brenda and Sonke (Germany) and William (Denmark)
October 2015