The Wilderness Downtown by Chris Milk of Brookside School

3D PICTURES OF NEW HOME

If you put the cursor on the picture you can turn the picture in different directions.

Wicca and Ebony

Two new family members were added this week to my home. They sleep during the day so they can play all night! It has been fun playing with them and seeing how they react to something new. They are typical kittens in that they will find their own amusement if you do not provide for them. They love to attack this mouse hanging from a rubber band. Great hunters in their minds.

NEW SCHOOL YEAR

Tomorrow I will start my 42nd year in education. I am excited about the opportunities that this coming year will hold. Our first two days with only staff has gone very well. Early tomorrow morning we will greet and meet all of those smiling faces. It is always a very busy day as we try to settle in for the year. I have announced that I plan to leave Norwalk after three more years. I am looking forward to that time but I recognize how much remains to be done in the next three years. Our school obtained AYP status this past year thru Safe Harbor. With the requirements increasing it will take a great deal of work and effort for us to maintain our goal as a high achieving school. I am extremely proud of the past few years for the students and staff have achieved high standards thru their efforts as well as their belief that it can be done.

Five Laws

The First Law


THE LAW OF VALUE

Your true worth is determined by how much more you give in value than you take in payment.



The Second Law

THE LAW OF COMPENSATION

Your income is determined by how many people you serve and how well you serve them.



The Third Law

THE LAW OF INFLUENCE

Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.



The Fourth Law

THE LAW OF AUTHENTICITY

The most valuable gift you have to offer is yourself.



The Fifth Law

THE LAW OF RECEPTIVITY

The key to effective giving is to stay open to receiving.

BELIEVE!

Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.


Henry Ford

One Hundred Years from now


(excerpt from "Within My Power" by Forest Witcraft)

One Hundred Years from now

It will not matter

what kind of car I drove,

What kind of house I lived in,

how much money was in my bank account


nor what my clothes looked like.


But the world may be a better place because


I was important in the life of a child.

Stress Management
A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, "How heavy is this glass of water?"
Answers called out ranged from 20g to 500g.
The lecturer replied, "The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.
If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem.
If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm.
If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance.
In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes."
He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management.
If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy,
we won't be able to carry on. "
"As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again.
When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden." "So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down.
Don't carry it home.
You can pick it up tomorrow.
Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment if you can."
So, my friend, why not take a while to just simply RELAX.
Put down anything that may be a burden to you right now.
Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while. Life is short. Enjoy it!

Here are some great ways of dealing with the burdens of life:
* Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue.

* Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

* Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

* Drive carefully. It's not only cars that can be recalled by their maker.

* If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

* If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

* It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

* Never buy a car you can't push.

* Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because, then you won't have a leg to stand on.

* Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

* Since it's the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late. The second mouse gets the cheese.

* When everything's coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.

* Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

* You may be only one person in the world, but you may also be the world to one person.

* Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once.

* We could learn a lot from crayons... Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

*A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you

today....

..I did.

David

Moving

Linda and myself are selling our Norwalk home and buying a home in Fitchburg, MA. Our main reason is to be closer to family and friends. We have enjoyed our 7 years in Norwalk. We have been able to see many things in the area as well as NYC. I will stay in Norwalk and Linda will establish our home in Fitchburg. If all of the financial things fall in place we should we in our new home late July or early August. We have agreed to a home that is located at 119 Will Thompson Way in Fitchburg. I will be renting an apartment in Norwalk and traveling on weekends and vacation time to Fitchburg.I am looking forward to regaining contact with friends in that area. We recognize that being apart will present some issues but the distance is not that great (3 hour trip) that it will make it impossible.

Red Sox

My favorite sport's team is the Boston Red Sox. As a youngster I lived and Died with how the Red Sox did. As you probably know I was 57 years old before they won a World Championship. In "67" with Yaz and Lonborg they had a miracle run to the American League title and then a defeat by Bob Gibson and the St. Louis Cardinals. That year they were in a neck to neck race with 3 other teams and they defeated the Twins on the last day to win the title. The last month of the season saw Yaz drive in winning runs or throw out a runner in a late inning or he made a great catch to save the day. Probably the greatest month by any player ever. The "75" team had Yaz and a few young up and coming players. Cinn Reds won in 7. I did get a chance to see one game in center field stands. Fisk's homerun is famous but they lost again. In "86" they won the league championship. Everyone knows the Buckner story and that was how our beloved Red Sox seemed to tear our hearts out every ten years. The joy of 2004 cannot be explained unless you have lived with all of the misery of Red Sox failures. Number 9 was my sports hero and I had the opportunity to see him at Fenway Park when I was very young. Even in Little League my number was 9.

Falling Waters

On one of our Boy's Trips we had the opportunity to go to Fallingwaters outside of Pittsburgh. Fallingwaters is the name of a very special house that is built over a waterfall. Frank Lloyd Wright, America's most famous architect, designed this summer house for his clients, the Kaufmann family. Fallingwaters was built between 1936 and 1939. It instantly became famous (LIFE Magazine front cover 1938) and today it is a National Historic Landmark.

Mountain Climbing

 

Baxter Peak

In my early twenties I had the opportunity to climb a few mountains in the New England area. I went on a Labor Day hike with my cousins (Sally and Carl) and Sally's boyfriend Ernie (future husband). We walked about 50 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Western Massachusetts. My cousins suffered a great deal because they had brought brand new boots and they had several blisters over the 3 days of hiking. Our backpacks weighted about 40 pounds at the start of the trip. The weight went down very quickly because we were very hungry and much of the weight was food product. I ended up hiking many more miles than the rest of them because of their blisters. I would go ahead and then backtrack to them. We had to follow trail maps that indicated where to go.
One of my friends Robbie liked to hike mountains and he invited me to climb with him. We climbed one of the mountains in the White Mountain range as well as Mount Kalahdin in Maine. Mount Kalahdin is the northern terminus of the 2160 mile Appalachian Trail. It is the tallest mountain in Maine at 5246 feet. The trip was very strenuous and took over four hours to reach the peak as well as four more hours to get back down. The mountain has a steep rocky terrain that leads to the summit which is Baxter Peak.

Brookside Elementary School at Carnegie Hall

ConnCAN: Brookside Elementary School, Norwalk, CT

Reading with a Pig

Brookside School Disc Golf

Daisy The Pig

I challenged my students at Brookside School to read at least 10,000 books during the months of January to March. If they reached their goal I would kiss a pig named Daisy (Datu). The students ended up reading over 12,500 books. Farmer Minor and Daisy ll was scheduled to visit Brookside School in early April. Daisy and Farmer Minor ended up doing a wonderful assembly with Farmer Minor telling his story about his "reading pig" and how he travels around the United States. Near the end of the talk I was called up to get a kiss from Daisy. Farmer Minor had me put a small piece of apple in my lips for Daisy to eat from my lips. Daisy gave me a little nibble on my chin and ate the apple piece as I gave him a kiss. It was a wonderful day and the kids enjoyed their time with Daisy the Pig.

Plymouth Road Runner Commercial 1968

RoadRunner 68

In 1968 I asked my father if I could cash in my Mutual Funds which totaled about $4000. I  was interested in buying my first car. I found a brand new model that was a Plymouth. It was called a Road Runner and it had the cartoon Road Runner decal as well as the horn would beep-beep when sounded. The car was fire engine red and was a 383 cubic inch engine with a 4 speed stick on the floor. It was voted the car of the year for 1968. It was part of the muscle cars that were produced during the late 60's and early 70's. The sound of the engine when idling was very loud. The car was extremely fast and it had an anti sway bar that allowed it to corner at a high rate of speed. I once was driving behind about ten cars on Ashby State Road. There was a straight stretch and I decided to pass the 10 to 12 cars. I was soon approaching about 100 mph as I got near the lead car. I noticed that my parents were in the front car and I had to make a quick decision - continue or slow down and let all the cars catch up with me. My decision was to continue as I went by them at 100 mph. I nervously awaited their arrival at home. Funny thing, they never said anything. I guess the red blur going by them was not recognized.
Beep-Beep

Why Do They Do That?

Standing in line at Walmart I again witnessed something that boggles my mind. A lady was waiting in line (I was two people behind her) for about two minutes and then it was her time to purchase her items. The clerk rang up her items and then the lady started to open her pocket book to find her money. Is it a female thing because this happens a lot. Why can't they just start the process while their items are being rung up.
Driving on the highway there is always one car (or more) that insist on driving in the left lane at or below the speed limit. They never pull over to the right and they generally have a NY license plate.

Hummer H3

I have owned a Hummer H3 for three years. Numerous times a person will ask me about the gas mileage. They all want to know how expensive it is to have a "gas guzzler". I always ask them what do they drive and how many miles do they drive each year. Most if not all state that they travel about 15,000 to 20,000 miles each year. I have 12,000 miles on my H3 after three years. Who owns the gas guzzler?

John Wooden Maxims

The smallest good deed is better than the best intention.
Don't let yesterday take up to much of today.
What is right is more important than who is right.
If we magnified blessings as we magnify disappointments, we would all be much happier.
Being average means you are as close to the bottom as you are the top.
You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for another without thought about return.
Forget favors given; remember those received.
Make each day your masterpiece.
Acquire peace of mind by making the effort to become the best of which you are capable.
Coach Wooden passed away today (June 5, 2010)at the age of 99.

It Ain't Heavy!

Working at Fitchburg Plumbing Supply when I was younger was not always a pleasant experience. My father would call and ask if I was interested in working. This generally meant that a truck was delivering a shipment. The worst shipments were boilers, SlantFin, steel pipe or soil pipe. Each of these shipments meant hand carrying many items or very heavy items. SlantFin was the worst because after unloading hundreds of 3' to 8' boxes your shoulder would be sore for several days. Breaking back a several hundred lb boiler was dangerous because you needed to break it on the hand truck but keep your balance with an item that out weighted you by hundreds of lbs. One day my father asked me to move a boiler plate from the dock to the building. This section of a boiler was on a cart with a handle. While I put my 145 lb weight into it and the cart didn't move at all. I continued to try with no luck. I went upstairs to see my father and he told me to follow him to the dock. He proceeded in trying to move it and he also didn't move it an inch. It seems the boiler plate weighted over 2000 lbs. I had the last laugh!

Family Friends

My whole life has had some involvement with dogs. As a very young child the family had a little white dog named Sugar. Sad to say but Sugar was struck and killed by a car. My father introduced Beagles (we had several) to a Great Dane puppy. Again tragedy struck for my father was working on the family water well and the cement cover was off when the Great Dane puppy went running towards the hole. I saw it and tried to stop him but he fell down the well. I quickly went down the well but I was to late. I remember a Bull Dog that my father brought home but it wouldn't let my mother in the room. The dog didn't stay long. My cousins ( lived next door) got a German Shepard/Collie mix puppy and my father got the kids in the car to go get our family a sibling of that dog. We came back home with five little puppies. My mother was not happy and three of the dogs were returned. However, Peggy and Baby became family pets and lived about 14 years. After I got married we had several dogs. Bergen (a hotdog) didn't last long because he bite a neighbor. Rufus was a beagle that was very high strung. When loose he would run and run and seemed to have Energizer Batteries. In Townsend we received a gift from Uncle John by the name of Heidi, an overweight Beagle. Heidi eventually ended up living in Ashby with my parents. Heidi weighted about 45 pounds and he loved the fields around my parent's home. Heidi lost all of his weight ( chasing rabbits??) and looked great. However, I think he realized he wasn't going to catch a rabbit and he put the weight back on. Our next dog was Posner, a black Miniature Schnauzer, one of my favorite dogs and was named by Ashley. Again, Posner escaped from our home and was struck and killed by a car where we now live in CT. We had picked up a little White Maltese which we named Harmony (PICTURED ABOVE). Harmony became Linda's dog and she lived with us for 8 years. Harmony had a bad heart and we miss her warm personality. After Posner died we picked up a Cairn Terrier, Zachory as a companion for Harmony. Zack quickly became my friend. We have since picked up a Westie by the name of Zoey. Both Zack and Zoey are important members of our family and are always happy to see us.

Car Games Growing Up

There are many games that are played by youngsters. On Sundays or vacation time the family would travel to Worcester (Uncle Eddie's) or Stinson Lake in N.H. One of our favorite games was trying to recognize a certain type of car before the others in the car. One game was called "beaver" and that was recognizing a station wagon first. The other game was "beetle" for VWs.

Selling A Home

Situated on a picturesque .83 acres, this beautiful 3 bedroom cape boasts central air (new in 2009), stainless steel appliances, granite countertops, hardwood floors, 2 car attached garage, 2 fireplaces and more. Relax on your large private deck and enjoy the views of the beautiful,private and professionally landscaped backyard with a gentle stream. Coldwell Banker Home Warranty Included! We have had our home on the market since Oct 09. Very little action and it has been a little frustrating. Our plan is to sell the home and purchase a new home in the Central Mass area. I would however, continue to live in the Norwalk area for the next three years. The reason for moving is to be closer to family and friends. I need to complete 3 more years to earn a CT pension. If we sell and buy it would mean we have to travel a little more on weekends. Linda's company is relocating and Linda is not going to continue to work. This will allow her to do the many things she needs to do such as volunteer, get new home ready, see the grand kids more, etc.
June 1st and we have an offer that we have accepted. Now we have to wait and see how the inspection goes as well as their financing. We are now in high gear to find a home in the Central Mass area. We have seen about 10 homes on the internet that look good with a reasonable price.

Great Friend

Just returned from a weekend visit at my friend's house in Leominster. Linda and I spent two days at the Starr's home on Stetson Street in Leominster. We both enjoyed our time with friends Don and Joyce. I have known Don Starr since our freshman year in college at Fitchburg State College (1965). I believe that in life we have very few true friends. I consider Don to be a true friend. Someone who would always be there no matter what is the circumstance. While reminising about our times together I was reminded about two times were Don put something over on me. Don was directing a

class play many years ago about Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates. During the winter I decided to go skating and as I pulled my skates out of the closet- Low and behold- someone had spray painted my skates "silver". While in college we both were taking a geography course with a very tough and demanding professor. Dr. Cox assigned each student to identify a country of their choice to do a research project. No two students could do the same country. When the class started Dr. Cox asked each student to identify their choice. Don had asked me what country I had chosen and I replied Paraguay. Dr. Cox got to Don and he replied that he would be doing Paraguay. I was sitting next to him and when Dr. Cox asked me I didn't have anything other than my choice had been taken. Dr. Cox was not pleased and Don was just looking at me with a smile. Forty-four years of friendship has seen

 many happy moments as well as some very difficult times. I know that my friend Don will always be an important part of my life and I thank him for all of the good times we have had together.

The Cake Boss

Took a trip to Hoboken, NJ with Linda and the Santangelo's. The Carlos Bakery is about an hour from our home. When we arrived there was a line of people  about 100 strong. Buddy was seen in the second story window for a brief moment. It took about 40 minutes to get into the bakery.  A few of the relatives who are on the show were in the bakery. We ended up purchasing a few shirts as well as a cake and some pastry. A neat little trip to a very popular TV reality show. A nice time spent with part of the family.

Do the Right Thing

There are times in your life when you have to stand up for what you think is right. We were trying to sell our first home while buying a new home in Townsend. The buyer of our home ended up delaying the purchase while we had to go through with the Townsend sale. This left us in a difficult position of owning two homes. We had to get a temporary bridge loan to cover the cost. It took two weeks to settle the sale of our first home and payback the bridge loan. We paid back the loan and the bank said we owed more on the interest because we were late. We had paid the loan back at 3 pm on a Friday. The bank claimed that because we paid after 2pm the loan was paid back on the next day and therefore we owed interest on that day of about $120.00. I went to the bank with our agreement. which had no stipulation about a 2pm payment. The agreement stated that the loan had to be paid back by Friday. After about 20 minutes the bank manager agreed with my viewpoint and he eliminated the extra charge. The manager was not happy with us but what is right is right.

Life in the 50's

I was thinking about how life has changed since I was a youngster. I remember walking with my mother on Main Street in Fitchburg and going into Woolworth's Five and Ten. This store was always fun because it had a counter with stools where you could get a sandwich or a frappe. I remember seeing Freddy Place deliver ice to the stores on Main Street. Freddy the Iceman was about 5' tall and he would carry large chunks of ice to the store for that was how they keep things cold. My mother would walk us down to Trap Falls and we would pick up a bus to drive to Fitchburg. There was less need for a car because many products were delivered to the home. We had bread men, milkmen as well as a man from Barney Rosen who would bring clothes to your house. On Saturdays we would sometimes go to the movies in Fitchburg. There were several movie houses but the Fitchburg Theatre and the Saxon were generally the places we would use. The movies cost about 50 cents and you could watch the movie again for free because they didn't ask you to leave at the end of the movie. When I was about 12 I remember that the Saturday movie was generally a science fiction with titles like The Brain Eaters or The Creature From the Black Lagoon. I had many nightmares over this last movie.
Television was black and white with screens about 20 inches. Color TV didn't begin until about 1960 and in the beginning there were very few color shows other than Bonanza or Walt Disney. TV only had three channels and it wasn't on 24 hours a day. I remember the first TV I ever saw was in Townsend while visiting one of my mother's friends. The screen was about 5 inches and it was round. The images on the screen was very fuzzy with shadows. The wonder of it all!

My favorite Christmas was waking up and seeing a Silver 3 speed Schwinn bicycle in our living room. There were two of them for my brother Bobby also received one.

A Son's Hero

My father was a very difficult man to understand. He cared but had a hard time showing it. As a youngster he coached me in Little League as well as organizing winter basketball. He attended all of my sporting events as a youngster as well as my high school basketball games. He didn't attend my high school or college graduation. He didn't attend my wedding. I could never understand why but I accepted him for who he was. I had many conversations with him about many different topics. I always enjoyed our conversations and it is one of my greatest losses in not being able to talk to him. My father's life was shaped by growing up in the Great Depression as well as being a soldier in World War II. He didn't tell us any war stories even when we asked him about his Purple Heart. We knew that he had shrapnel in his face and body. We knew that he was blind for a while but he always said he received the medal because he cut his hand on a beer can. When the book The Greatest Generation came out I read it and I had a conversation with him. My father was in his late 70's and it was the first time he talked to me about the war. He stated that his group was trapped in a forest near Germany and they were running out of ammunition. My father's body and voice changed as he told the story and it was obvious that he was reliving the experience. Imagine a 23 year old knowing that he would soon be dead. The enemy was closing in and they had no chance. My father was physically shaking in telling that a P51 Mustang arrived and opened up a path for the soldiers to escape.
My father received the Purple Heart, a Bronze Star and he told a story that his Lieutenant recommended him for the Silver Star but my father refused for he felt that another soldier was more worthy of that medal. In reading about his 5th Division it was one of the most decorated divisions because of all of the action they saw. They were the first division to arrive at the border of Germany. My father told me that the were not allowed to proceed into Germany because the higher ups wanted General Montgomery's men to be first so my father's group waited for the British to arrive.
My father was my hero for I always knew that he would be there for me if I needed him. He didn't express his love by verbalizing it but it was always known by me that he did love his family.
When my father's valve near his heart started to fail he was rushed to the hospital. I was called and arrived at the hospital around noon. The valve was leaking fluid into his abdomen and he was being given morphine to help with the pain. I knew that his time was short and I decided to stay with him overnight. All of my siblings and family came during the day and then my father and me were alone. He had requested that the morphine be stopped around 5 pm. We talked a little and then he was tired and he fell asleep. I too fell asleep but I was awakened by a noise at 3 am. It was the last breath of my father as he died very peacefully. I whispered to him how much I loved him. I notified the nurse and then went to his room for my good bye. I called my brothers and sister to tell them about his passing. I had made a decision to drive to my family's home to tell my mother. As I arrived and entered the living room my mother knew what had happened. Then the family dog looked up to the ceiling area near the door to the bedroom and started to bark. A very strange feeling came over me and I felt as if dad was checking up on the love of his life.