Governor Polis’ efforts to bring free, full-day kindergarten to Colorado’s public schools have been in the news quite often the last several weeks. Currently, Colorado only pays for half-day kindergarten. Those districts that do offer full-day kindergarten pay for it with funds designated for other programs, with local property taxes, or by charging families. Polis recently stated, "It's time to make the state a full partner with our (school) districts. We simply need to ensure that kindergarten … [Read more...] about Putting the Garden Back in Kindergarten
Colorado
Vuja de
I’ve been writing about various facets of the natural world for the newsletter of the Nature education non-profit I started in the Mountain Park in Beulah, my small southern Colorado town, for a long time. The recent issue that was just published begins the eighteenth year of the Mountain Park News. I can recall writing articles on all sorts of birds and wildflowers, bears, trees, mountain lions, pronghorn, bobcat, pleasing fungus beetles, squirrels, owls, biological soil crusts…but, … [Read more...] about Vuja de
40 Day Love Fest: Daily Marriage Practices for Easy Living
Forty years is made up of a whole lot of individual days. It is what happens routinely in those days that add up to make a life, or a marriage. Sure, vacations are nice, breaks from the routine, opportunities to do some different things and see some different places. But vacations are just that - temporarily vacating the familiar. Then it is back to the familiar. One of our philosophies of creating a happy life, and marriage, is to make the familiar - the everyday days with the everyday tasks … [Read more...] about 40 Day Love Fest: Daily Marriage Practices for Easy Living
40 Day Love Fest: Books That Taught & Inspired Our Marriage – The Early Years
We love books! Sometimes a book can change your life - after you read it, you can't see or do things the same way you saw or did them before. In our early years we found books that helped shape our shared interests, values and ultimately our life together. Some books can be that powerful, and here is a short list of some of the books that have had such an influence on our lives: Living the Good Life by Helen & Scott Nearing Living close to the land, growing food, simplifying, minimizing … [Read more...] about 40 Day Love Fest: Books That Taught & Inspired Our Marriage – The Early Years
40 Day Love Fest: Music Brought Us Together – The Van Manens are born
In the beginning, there was music. If there is a thread that connects the entire length of our marriage, as well as the couple of years we were together before we were married, it is music. Making it and listening to it. Just a few months before we met, Dave did his first public performance at his high school (Brooklyn Tech) after abandoning the plan to become a professional football player (his not-quite 5'7" stature had something to do with this abandonment) and setting his sights on a … [Read more...] about 40 Day Love Fest: Music Brought Us Together – The Van Manens are born
40 Day Love Fest – Our Magical Mystery Marriage
We've been talking about how to honor and celebrate our 40 year wedding anniversary (which we cannot even believe we are saying "forty"). We originally thought we would take 40 days off (one for each year), but that did not work out with our work schedules. So we grew that idea into creating the "40-Day LoveFest," which will consist of doing something special each day for 40 days to celebrate these 40 magical years, including taking time each day to remember the years, the ups and downs, the … [Read more...] about 40 Day Love Fest – Our Magical Mystery Marriage
The Call To Take People To Nature
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.” ~ John Muir What was left of the daylight was rapidly fading. The primeval silence of the forest was as much a presence as the Douglas firs that towered above us. The deep hoot of a great horned owl suddenly … [Read more...] about The Call To Take People To Nature
Why John Muir is One Of My Nature Heroes
I’m reading yet another book on John Muir, this one by a fine writer, Kim Heacox, about Muir’s travels to Alaska to observe and explore glaciers. I am always moved by accounts of how Muir’s love of wild places was such a driving force in all that he did. I especially appreciate the story about Muir’s meeting of Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was 1871, Emerson was 68, Muir 33. In spite of Emerson’s entourage, who were concerned about the old man’s health, Muir begged Emerson to spend more time with … [Read more...] about Why John Muir is One Of My Nature Heroes
How Loud Did He Burp? What Kids Learn At Summer Camp
Ah, summer – long hot days, rainstorms, no school, vacations from work, fishing, swimming, picnics, visits to National Parks, trips to the beach… We all have our own associations when we think of summer, these and others. Last week, I picked up my 10-year old grandson Jude from a summer camp that he attended, one that focused on wilderness skills such as shelter building, finding safe drinking water, and how to build a friction fire. I thought that summer camp will likely be on his list of … [Read more...] about How Loud Did He Burp? What Kids Learn At Summer Camp
