Wow – it’s been a while since any of the three of us have posted here.  Things got crazy busy with the wrap up of the school year and all that entailed.  Then came instructing at Summer Gym – seven eight and a half hour days, which fulfill one of two semesters of Physical Education required for high school graduation in Ohio.  It was a lucrative, exhausting, and frequently fun way to spend my first fourteen weekdays of summer.  Rachel and I worked together one of the days to teach our students how to play Pickleball!

Then it was off to an enjoyable vacation in Gatlinburg and the Great Smoky Mountain Nat’l Park.  A favorite attraction (in a location with no shortage of them) was the tram up to Ober Gatlinburg.

And then it was the Fourth of July and a chance to march in a local parade with my daughter’s dance studio:

Since Pope Francis has been in the headlines recently with the release of the groundbreaking encyclical Laudato Si, I thought I’d share another way to participate this summer in the Francis Phenomenon BBC. FYI – In case you’ve not yet read enough about the encyclical, Time Magazine has a solid, brief summary and the always interesting Atlantic has a thoughtful, secular perspective.

This summer, be sure to take Flat Francis with you:

Inspired by the Flat Stanley phenomenon, Catholic Extension has launched a website and Twitter handle to which people can post photos of Flat Francis.  These photos will be given to Pope Francis in advance of his fall trip to the U.S. so he can see people and places beyond the East Coast.

Some notable people (and mascots) have already posted:

And here’s my contribution, from the day we took the Summer Gym students to canoe on the Hocking River: