ANOTHER BIRTHDAY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR FAVORITE SON, MIKE!

HIS WHOLE LIFE, HE HAS TAUGHT US THINGS WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW EXISTED!

 NOW HE TEACHES HIGH SCHOOL MATH AND SCIENCE.

IN ADDITION, HE WILL BE SPENDING HIS SPRING BREAK TAKING STUDENTS TO JAPAN TO LEARN ABOUT THE CULTURE AND THE WONDERS OF THE COUNTRY.  

HAVE A SAFE AND FUN TRIP, DR. SAULMON. WE'RE ANXIOUS TO HEAR WHAT YOU LEARN NEW ON THIS, YOUR FOURTH TRIP TO JAPAN!

A MOMENTOUS YEAR STARTING WITH A 50TH BIRTHDAY

I started this blog ten years ago, and called it Salmagundi.  I've always been interested in alliteration, and figured Salmagundi just went with my name --- Sally Saulmon.  Plus, the meaning of the word seem to fit what I wanted to write about --- "a disparate assembly of things, ideas, and people".  I have never been interested in blog statistics, number of followers, readers, and commenters; or growing my blog.  Consquently, I don't have a large audience.  I just wanted to journal some thoughts about our ancestors, our immediate family, the belongings we have been entrusted to care for, and the way as a family we live and love in our home.  
I also discovered along the way that a blog was a great place to chronicle my favorite avocation -- quilt making.  So, I started a second blog in 2011, called Q-Bits, which contains pictures and statistics of my quilts.
  
At my age, I wonder if I'll ever have anything new or different to write about.  Since I do write about things primarily meaningful to only us, I continue to bore what few readers I have.  Since I enjoy occasionally posting, I guess I'm still in the blog world for the time being!  Apologies to my handful of readers.  Hopefully, our children and grandchildren are still interested a little about the "Salmagundi" of our lives.

When I started "Salmagundi" in 2008, it was a momentous year --- our first-born's 40th birthday, our 50th wedding anniversary, and then my 70th birthday in November and Bob's 70th in December.  Here is one of my first blog posts with thoughts about our 50th wedding anniversary. 
At the time, I had no idea that 2018 would come around so fast, and another momentous year would be upon us.  Now I'm contemplating the 10th anniversary of this blog, our son's 50th birthday, our 60th wedding anniversary, and our 80th birthdays.

Over the last 10 years, I have written a post about each of our kid's and grandkid's birthdays --- sometimes with embarrassing 'little kid' photos.  So, here goes --- it's Mike's 50th birthday this week --- he received his AARP letter a week or so ago.  That really made me feel old!!

It's been a busy 50 years for this inquisitive and studious kid including four college degrees, enough travel around the world to satisfy most, and an unexpected career as a high school math and science teacher.
He has certainly kept his father and I on our toes all these years keeping up with our conversations on education, travel, philosophy, music, religion, and thoughts on life in general.  

2018 started off for him with one of the things he enjoys most -- travel.  He took a long weekend trip to Hong Kong to celebrate the New Year!


More travel planned for 2018 --- a trip to Italy and Spain with a group of his students in June.  Then a busy school year fund raising with another group of students for a trip over Spring break, 2019, to Japan.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Saulmon --- turning 50 is a good thing!!
This post wouldn't be complete without a 'little kid' photo.

1974

I'm joining Have a Daily Cup for Share Your Cup Thursday

IT'S HIS BIRTHDAY AGAIN!

The years have flown by since our son, Mike, was born.  Let's just say he will soon be pushing 50 years old.

Among his many talents and accomplishments (and there have been many), one of my greatest joys has been to listen to him play the piano.  I never get to hear him often enough.
When he was in kindergarten, I had to beg the grade school music teacher to take him on as a private piano student.  I knew he was ready; she thought he was too young.  In a couple of months, she knew I was right.  He's been playing ever since.

You would think that because of all of the recitals, playing for church, piano competitions, jazz band, choir accompaniments, etc; plus everything he has done with the piano as an adult over the years that I would have scads of pictures of him at the piano.  But, I only found these three ---  he was 18 months old in the first one, then in the 8th grade, and then as a senior in high school.

In addition to being a high school math and science teacher, he does a lot of accompanying for his high schools' music 

programs.  How fitting that tomorrow on his birthday, he will be playing ragtime for two performances of the school's Spring drama.
Kudos to all those teachers who work extra to keep the art's programs alive in these small, under-funded rural high schools.


And happy birthday, Dr. Saulmon!!!!

SORTING PHOTOS AND FABRIC SCRAPS, AND A BIRTHDAY!

One of my goals for 2016 is to conquer the 125-year's worth of photos I've been entrusted with for the next generation.  I've done some work on them over the years, but I seem to peter out before completely finishing the task.  There are photos of ancestors dating back to the 1880s through photos of my grandchildren taken recently ---- 1000s of pictures that need organized, dated, identified, etc.  

I have 15 of these large media boxes that contain photos of different occasions and branches of our families.  The one above happens to contain pictures of my granddaughter -- it still needs work on putting the photos in date order.  And, of course, I have photo files on my computer for the last 10 years that need to be reorganized.

This year I'm committed to accomplish some sort of order.  BUT, if I work on them too long, I go batty and buggy-eyed!

I needed a diversion.  So I've decided that I will work on the photos one week, then alternate a week working on sorting out my fabric scraps.

To make a long story short --- I'm not really planning to do anything blog-worthy for the next few weeks; so I will be in blog-limbo for awhile. 
You can check my quilting blog, Q-Bits --- that's probably where most of the action will happen. 

Have a happy Spring and a joyous Easter!

P.S.:  Also, happy birthday this week to our hard-working, under-paid teacher son, Mike.  In addition to teaching high school algebra, calculus, and chemistry classes this week, he has night time parent teacher conferences.  Plus, he is in the process of accompanying on the piano several students for solo and ensemble contests.  And then, he is completing plans to take 30 teenagers to Paris and the British Isles in June --  all on a salary that a pro athlete would spend for dinner out.  Next time you see a public school teacher with a day off, thank them for their service!!

In the meantime, I'm sorting through his box of photos reliving the joy of having him as our son!!!

A TEACHER NEVER STOPS BEING A STUDENT

It's birthday time here again.  Our first-born turns 47.  How did that happen so soon?

He has been bright-eyed and inquisitive since he was a few weeks old.

10 weeks old

However, he did flunk out of pre-school for expressing his opinion and knowledge a little too frequently!  Does that surprise anyone who knows him?   Homeschooling was in order until he could attack kindergarten.

2 years old

From then on there was no stopping him from loving to learn.

First, there was high school graduation, then a college chemical engineering degree, then a master's degree in chemical engineering.  As if that wasn't enough --  then another master's and a doctorate in biochemistry were earned.  It got a little old going to graduations, so we all missed the last two (thus, no photos).

He finally found his niche -- teaching high school math and science, plus sponsoring the International club at school enabling him to travel the world with his students.

Happy Birthday, Dr. S.  
 You continue to enrich our lives immensely. 

IT'S BIRTHDAY TIME

If I hadn't been there, I would think this kid was born with a book in his hands.

 His first love has always been reading, studying --

Learning --

About anything and everything --

He never goes anywhere without a book, or his Kindle, or a map and a notebook --

Always thinking and figuring -- doing math problems while waiting for a train --

 We should have known from the beginning that he would be a traveler, a high school math and science teacher, an interesting person, and a great son.

Have a Happy Birthday, Mike; and a safe and fun trip to Japan with your students this summer!

TO OUR SON, MIKE

After all of those long winter months in Montana when we could hardly get out of our snowy driveway-----

who would have thought you would become a world traveler?

Happy Birthday, Dr. S.; and may you have many more wonderful experiences!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE

Just a quick post to wish our son, Mike, a Happy Birthday.

Here he is at age 3 - such a cutie and so full of curiosity.

And now, he is 43. Where did all of those years go? Still so full of curiosity; always seeking adventure and knowledge.
He's always had a desire to learn about this world, and now to pass that information on to his students. Congratulations on all of your accomplishments, Dr. S.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE

St. Patrick was smiling the day you were born 42 years ago. It was certainly our good fortune!

You have always supplied us with plenty of joy and adventure. And, now, you are off to spend the summer in Japan working in an orchard. What will be next?

Happy Birthday, Dr. S----, our son - the teacher, the traveler, and so much more!!!

Love from Mom and Dad

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE!!

We knew from Day 1 that it was going to be an interesting ride with you in the driver's seat! Those huge, beautiful eyes just sparkled with curiosity. We could tell you were wanting to get out of that baby brain and explore the world.

My favorite picture just exemplifies your approach to life at an early age: find a book on the subject, read about it, and figure it out for yourself. Click on the picture to enlarge and see that he is reading, "Toilet Training Made Easy"!

Both sides of your brain were engaged. In addition to having fun with algebra at age 3, you took right to the piano and have filled our lives with music ever since.

We learned that it didn't do any good to discipline you by sending you to your room. That was your favorite place to go to read your encyclopedias, math books, maps and dictionaries. It didn't surprise us at all that your college odyssey lasted 13 years and resulted in 4 degrees. And, how wonderful that you have taken every opportunity to travel to enrich your education. All of your experiences from driving a truck from coast to coast more than once to introducing your students to the subways of Tokyo makes you who you are today. I'm just glad we didn't know about the wild taxi ride in the hills of Mexico until it was all over.

We're proud that in addition to teaching your high school students physics and chemistry, your main goal is to instill them with the joy of learning. No one better than you exhibits that joy.

So, Happy 41st Birthday, Dr. S------! May you and your students have a super trip to Greece and Italy over Spring Break. Come back safely with more experiences to share!

Love from Mom and Dad