Serendipity

55 gallon drum Since my last post ( Still no definitive answer to Leroy students illnesses ), testing has been done and is now completed on  235  (rotting)  barrels that contained soil from wells drilled on the Lehigh Railroad Derailment Superfund site . (I am assuming here that this was when the clean-up after the railroad spill had commenced and they were making sure that the soil--then--was decontaminated .)  According to WKBW , in 32 of those barrels of soil and rock, "   some detectable concentrations of contaminants were found.  However, in all cases the levels of these contaminants were low and are below health-based levels."  In any case, these barrels were moved to a landfill that accepts hazardous waste in Belleville, Michigan. “I am pleased the EPA is removing the barrels from this Superfund site,” said Senator Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee.  “The EPA must now continue tes...

From 'Journal of Secrets', 2/21/2012 I don't know how many you have heard of the site: " Journal of Secrets " but I have been subscribed to the site for some time now. The thought behind of the site is that anyone can post a "secret" anonymously...whether it be in just a word format or words added to a photo. (And in case you are wondering...no--I haven't ever posted my own secrets there!) Most 'secrets' are not too horrifying and sometimes, I can relate to whatever the poster has wrote, but every once in a while, I find one that sets me back on my heels. The 'secret' above in the photo is the most recent one. Maybe...I just have a morbid imagination, but this one really creeps me out. Something inside my brain is calling "foul" and red flags are waving...is there a double meaning to this photo? Would it be not-so-surprising if there were one? Can we take it at face value and except that whomever sent this in to...

a child with a Hula hoop It's been a  funny kind of day today for me...my thoughts have been all over the place, and I have found that my emotions have been too.  I started out the day, feeling at loss over how far my children and I have drifted apart over the last few years...something that I hoped would never happen. Then, it was thoughts about the progress I have made since my breakdown in 2001, and how I have to learn to let go...and let what will be take it's course...it is out of my control. (I am a worrier and tend to take too much to heart sometimes.) Tonight, I can't tell you what brought the thoughts on, but I have sat here for the past hour or so, thinking about all the other toys that I had as a child. Wow...finding the images sure brought back some very fond memories and fun times! So here we go as I take you down memory lane... One of the earliest memories I have is of poppit beads...mine were strictly all white, but I had a lot of them and made ...

I have always had a love of quotes, and over the last few years have acquired many that I have either added to various photos (my own or others), or have found online...specifically on Facebook. I'd like to share them with you...and let their beauty touch you as they have touched me... [**None of these photos are mine and I claim no ownership of them.]

Every week we are bombarded in the media with articles about teachers going too far in one way or another. For some time though, they have been mostly about teachers that have done the unthinkable: gotten into some kind of romantic and/or sexual affair with a student.  This morning though, I came across an article about a teacher who is also a coach, that went too far in a different way: making "insensitive and vulgar comments in front of students and players", as well as picking on the students that have come down with the mystery illness at Le Roy school in upstate NY. It seems that his insensativity led him to make up a chant while his basketball team (York) was playing against Le Roy's that went:    “One, Two, three, Tourette’s!” And supposedly this was said in the locker room and not on the basketball court. Falk reportedly qualified his ‘joke,’ telling his players, “I’m just kidding.” Well, his kidding cost him...he was removed from the coach pos...

Yesterday morning, I was watching TV (a program in ID--Investigation Discovery ) when I heard a faint knocking at the door. I wasn't expecting anyone, but got up to see who was here...and it came as no surprise that it was a couple of Jehovah's Witnesses . An older man and woman...Bibles, a fancy leather folder and a carry-all bag in their arms. Fortunately, the way our house is set up, I saw them through I window before I reached the door and decided right then I was not going to open the door. I have dealt with many of them over the years and I don't like the way they try to force you to listen to their spiel . Try to get a straight-forward answer from them about some more difficult aspects of the Bible...and they talk in circles avoiding the question...because they don't know the answer! Don't get me wrong here...I don't have a problem with anyone being religious regardless of what religion that might be. What I do have a problem with though, is h...

Valentine's Day: As a child in grade school, I can remember the excitement of coming home a day or two before Valentine's Day to find a brand new, unopened box of those little miniature Valentine cards (with those tiny little envelopes) that I would hand out in school during our party to my classmates. There was nothing like looking through all the cards and sayings while breathing in the smell of new paper! On the day of the party, there was so much excitement when handing out the Valentines to my classmates, sticking each one into a handmade Valentine mailboxes or huge heart-shaped envelopes (depending on the teacher and what we chose to make) that we had made and scotch-taped to the front of our desks. It was a lot of fun delivering them, but even more so opening the ones that I'd received! Once in Junior High (7th & 8th grades) those parties ceased. If I gave out Valentines it was strictly to those friends that I was close to...primarily m...