Harvey Shortened Game

Elijah's game got called due to rain...they did get to play for about an hour before the hard rain started to fall. I truthfully don't know what the score was...or what inning it was...I wasn't in the best place to see the score board and we were just trying to keep dry...umbrella up...umbrella down...umbrella up...I do know that the other team was ahead.  Elijah got to play 2nd base and right field tonight and had one at bat. I got wet enough that it was pretty chilly.  We both changed clothes pretty quickly upon getting home.

Woody got up early and walked this morning.  I had school with Joseph and Isaac and read with Abigail, Esther and Joy.  Then it was Elijah's turn for his science experiments with me.  The first experiment fizzed up and over...surprising us both!  One of the things that he learned about today was water surface tension.  He had a pretty fun time doing the several experiments that went with that.  The funniest thing was that after lunch, Joy came over and asked me to help with some of her science experiments...and...the ones she was ready to do were about surface tension!  She had a different one than Elijah did but the other one was like one of his and then we did one of his.  The favorite was getting a pan with water in it and then sprinkling ground pepper all over the surface.  You put a small amount of dish washing liquid on the tip of your finger and put your finger right in the middle of the pan...and the pepper all shoots to the sides.  They both liked that one and Joy had an audience when she did it...Esther and Elijah.  Elijah was telling her what to do next in the experiment!  I am only randomly picking different experiments that I read about online (that I have ingredients and equipment for) so I have no order so it was surprising that I would happen to choose the exact ones that Joy was doing today from her school textbook.  I rested for a while after all the excitement from the experiments and then went down and cooked our supper.  It wasn't long after supper till it was time to head off to the ball park. And, now that we are back, we are settling in for a quiet rest of the evening. I guess with the last sentence I will bid adieu to August!
 

Wet Wednesday

At least the afternoon has been wet...I guess we are getting a little...so far very little of the rain from Harvey.  I was looking at St. Louis Zoo pictures with Joseph yesterday and decided that this was a good one for a damp day!

Woody got up and walked this morning.  I had school with Joseph and Joseph and read with Elijah, Joy, and Abigail and had sewing time with Esther.  Esther got underway with cutting out the apron that she is planning to make.  Woody got some more reading done as he was able to give me the book that he was reading to return to the church library.  About as soon as I swallowed my last bite of lunch, I headed out the door to go to the church to work in the library.  The three of us got well underway with processing the new order of books.  It started sprinkling when I was heading to church.  I think that it rained while we were working.  Then it rained on me on my way home...but not hard.  Looks like we are out of the rain for the time being.

I came home to go through an order that I made.  I have been looking for towels for some time and just never found just the ones that I liked...I prefer a striped towel rather than a solid color...so finally found some in a catalog and took a chance on ordering them.  I popped them in the washer when I got home and then in the drier...talk about lots of fuzz!  The drier lint filter was full (and I had cleaned it just before drying these towels).  Then I shook them out...lint all over the floor in our bedroom...which caused me to have to vacuum. After that I used a lint roller on them and then picked off the remaining fuzz!  I hope that this fuzz doesn't continue...time will tell!  I am pleased with the colors in the towels...now we will see if there is anything left of the towels after they are washed several times and more comes out...perhaps they will soon be threadbare?!?  I hope not...I think that the initial wash will be the worse at getting the fuzz out.  Wonder if we will be covered with lint when we dry off with them!

Woody has pretty much stayed inside today except for his walk early.  He has read, done puzzles, studied his Sunday School lesson, and watched some TV.  I have mainly done school and library.  We had leftovers for supper...so that was an easy meal for me.  Woody has done the dishes.  Now I'm blogging and then I have to go prepare the experiments for Elijah's science experiment time with me tomorrow.  Oh, me...science isn't as easy to get ready for as sewing is!  Got to go plan exactly what we will do tomorrow during his long time...something fizzy...probably...hopefully nothing will blow up...well...maybe a balloon! I think that we may see a wetter Thursday and Friday than we did Wednesday.

Dinner Party!

Isaac might scare you off from this dinner party!  He did decide that after I took this one that he should have his silverware raised...but by that time Woody was ready to pray so this one will have to do!  Nathan, Kathy, Graham, Joy, and Esther are at our local Chick Fil A doing balloon animals and riding unicycles.  Abigail is at her volleyball game.  And Elijah, Isaac, and Joseph are hanging out with us.

We got back into school mode this morning...trying to establish a school routine!  I think that Joy said that they would be here for a bit longer stretch of time this time. Time will tell!

Woody has done a lot of reading today.  I brought him a book from the church library and he is "into" it.  I mainly did school and then puttered around till the boys came over this afternoon.  They have had fun playing with lots of things.  At the moment the Osmo things have come out for the iPad.  They're running a pizza store at the moment.  Elijah is the manager...I think!  He is the one who can make change!  Something to keep them occupied here till their family returns...a change in what they had been doing.

Woody plans to walk to the prayer room once all the little chickens are back in their own roost!  There is a possibility that he might need to get Abigail from her game.

Late Night at the Ol' Ball Park!

It's Fall Ball season in Tullahoma.  Elijah is playing on a player pitch team for the first time. He is on the Bucks team...the teams in Fall Ball are named after college teams.  His team, the Bucks, get their name from the Motlow College team.  Motlow is our local community college. He played right and left field and had one at bat.  I'm sure that he came away a happy camper since he didn't get hit by a player pitched ball AND his team won by one point. So now we have a volleyball player (Abigail), a player pitch player (Elijah) and two softball players (Joy and Esther).  Looks like our evenings will be a lot more active than usual for a while!

Woody got up and walked early this morning.  I didn't have school as the neighbors didn't get back from their latest ministry trip till a little before lunch today.  I set the morning aside for sewing...but didn't do much sewing as I am in the midst of fitting a pattern.  I cooked supper and just barely got mine eaten before it was time to head off to the ball field.  I went with Nathan, Kathy and family as Woody was going to the Monday night prayer meeting before he headed to the ball park.  Nathan and family had to leave early as there were lots of drop-offs before getting to the ball field...Abigail had a swimming party for her volleyball team, Graham had a Civil Air Patrol meeting, their van needed gas...so we were quite the gadabouts before we finally got to the ball park.  Woody got to the ball park just as the game was getting started.  We watched the game...and now we are home...and it is just about time for bed!

Some Saturday!

 We have had quite a busy Saturday...one thing happening after another.  Woody was busier than I...but the day still has seemed to be a bit of a whirlwind even for me.  We both got up really early. I got up and decided to sew and Woody headed off for his early morning walk...these days it is really quite pleasant early...one might even say that it is cool in the early hours.  Woody headed off before 9am to go to a meeting at church for the deacons to meet a prospective pastor.  On his way home from church, he stopped at the library for his usual Saturday visit.  By the time he got home it was almost time for lunch.  He made his Crispy Quinua Burger recipe...I think that he wanted a sandwich that he could use the pickle relish that we made yesterday!  By the time he got those made and the mess cleaned up, it was almost time for the two of us to go to church for a reception for the prospective pastor and his family.

After we got home, I had Woody drag the hose and sprinkler around to the front yard so I could give some of our plants a much needed drink. I even did a little deadheading.  After moving the sprinkler around the front yard to several different places, I headed back inside to cool off and to go back to sewing.  I am hemming my pajama top...so at last it is almost finished.  I hadn't sewed in several days, but wanted to get this project finished and the scraps, etc. cleared out of the way.  I ended up taking a little snooze after wrangling the hose around..couldn't keep my eyes open with the monotony of the needle going in and out!. Now I am going to go finish with the hems and be done with another sewing project.

In tonight's picture there are a couple of creatures sitting up on the silo...not sure how easy it is to spot them without them being pointed out.  I will show you in a photo zoomed on these lovlies (not) here at the end of the blog.  Lots of times there are things lurking in my photos that aren't noticable at first glance!  Now check out the top picture and you will easily spot them even though they are what probably just looked like small black specks before knowing these guys were sitting up there.

Hiways & Byways + A Birthday!

This morning Woody and I headed out the door around 7am to go to his yearly check with his dermatologist in Murfreesboro.  That is an "in and out quickly" kind of appointment.  He checked out fine...did have a couple of places frozen off and then he was good to go.  We stopped at a grocery store that we like to go to when we are in the area...Publix.  We picked up several things that we don't find in our stores in Tullahoma.  Then we stopped at a sewing machine dealer.  My machines are in need of a "spa treatment" = good cleaning.  The dealer that I have used in Tullahoma for so many years has retired so I was looking for someone new to clean and repair my machines.  This particular dealer sells and repairs the two brands of machines that I have so I have decided to give them a try.  I just talked with them this morning.  We will take the machines to them on the day that my sister is due to fly into Nashville...a stop on the way to the airport.  Then I hope that it is ready to be picked up on the day that we take her back to the airport for her flight back to AZ.  

After that stop we meandered back towards the road that would take us back to Tullahoma.  That road happened to "almost" pass Melany's house and we had an important reason to stop for a moment at their house: today is Erin's 24th birthday...oh, my where have the years gone?  It seems just like yesterday that we became grandparents for the first time!   Happy 24th Birthday, Erin!

We got back home around noon.  After lunch,  Woody headed to Kroger to finish our weekly shopping that he started yesterday.  After he got back home, we decided that it was time to make a few of our homegrown cucumbers into some sweet pickle relish.  We don't can...so make just a small amount to last us through several sandwiches!  It is now in the refrigerator chilling. After all the comings and goings and making pickle relish, I was ready to rest and found myself taking a pretty good nap.  Not sure that I have awakened from it yet, though I've been awake for more than an hour. We have had supper and are settling in for another quiet evening in our household.  Tonight's photos just show a variety of scenes along the roads we traveled today. My gout doesn't seem any the worse...so hopefully it is being held at bay!

To the Rescue?

Another week is quickly heading to its end.  The weekend is just about upon us.  Woody got up this morning and took his usual four-mile walk in the cool temperatures.  Later in the morning he went to Aldis...a day early.  He has an early morning appointment at his dermatologists tomorrow so he knew that his time to shop on Friday would be cut rather short.  I have been working around the house today...mainly in our bedroom today.  I have washed and dried sheets and blankets and am in the process of getting them back on the bed as they get dry.  The vacuum and Swiffer dusters have gotten some use today also.  I just had a phone call and decided to choose the photo for tonight's blog while I talked.  And then decided that I would  quickly post tonight's blog before cooking supper.  I have done some sitting today as I had an indication this morning...well, really yesterday, that my gout might be rearing its head so I decided that I would take my rescue pill to try to nip it in the bud.  So far it hasn't gotten any worse today.  This time it is on the side of my left foot...never know where it will show up...but it hadn't shown up for some time so that is good.  I am hoping that my daily gout drug is doing what it is supposed to be doing.  My last blood work indicated that the uric acid levels were coming down...so that is good.  My doctor wants me to take the rescue drug at the first sign of an attack hoping that it will keep it from getting bad...and I don't want it to get bad so I am trying to do as she said!  I surely don't want to be "down" for a month like back in January!  Well, I'm off to cook our supper. Doing both cleaning AND cooking in the same day lets you know that I am still moving about!

Mid Week Mumbles

Just mumbles for the blog tonight as not much to tell!  It has been a pretty typical Wednesday.  Woody got up and walked early this morning.  He has done quite a bit of reading today.  I did a little picking up and putting away of items that are scattered around the house.  Then I did some library work here at the house before heading to work in the library after lunch.  I got the paperwork done for assigning some church library memorials.  Last night after blogging I did repairs on a book that someone's puppy got a little too interested in! (The puppy said that he was sorry!) Donna finished off the repairs for me this afternoon by putting contact paper on the book during our work time in the library.  And, it looks like the book will live to be opened and read several more times by our patrons...most will be none the wiser as to the almost demise of said book!  We would have just replaced the book, but it is out of print and not easily found...and when I did find a copy online, it was a used copy and at what I considered too high a price...so repairs we did! After I worked in the library I ran a couple of errands and then headed home. We have had supper and are both settling in for what we figure will be a quiet evening!

Sun Shone Brightly

The sun has made up for being dimmed for a short time yesterday.  It has shone brightly all day long.  I think that it even made up for the slightly cooler temperature while we were in the moon's shadow as it has been quite warm today...up to 90.  I think that I heard that we may have a storm a bit later this evening...but at the moment no evidence of one in sight or hearing.

We have pretty much just puttered around the house today doing one thing and another.  I did a couple of loads of wash and cleaned a couple of bathrooms.  Woody left a while ago to walk to the prayer room at church.  We had our main meal at lunch today.  We cooked a spaghetti squash to have with our leftover spaghetti sauce.  Tasted quite good.  Tonight we are "scrounging."  That's what we call it when we just eat what we feel like eating of the things that are in the refrigerator.

I guess you could say that I am getting ready for my sister Cheryl's visit the middle of September.  I moved fabric that is hanging in the guest closet so she will have room to hang some clothes. Now when she and I talk, we can say, "See you soon!"

Shadows of an Eclipse!

We were about as close to a total eclipse as we could be without being in the swath of a total eclipse. The next picture shows the maps of the US and TN...the little red dots show where we are located.

We didn't get glasses to view the eclipse so I came up with ways to view by way of pin dot shadows.  Note that the above maps have holes cut out in the middle of them.  So we either held them and let the sun shine through or mounted them on a tripod when we got tired of holding them!

It was suggested at the site where I downloaded the maps that you hold the map and get a picture of yourself in shadow and the map showing the eclipse.  So here is Woody holding the map of  TN at the beginning of the eclipse.  And the next shows my shadow and the set up that I finally came up with so we didn't have to stand and hold the maps.

The pinholes really did work.  You could see the hole take on the shape of the sun as the moon passed in front of it.  The next picture shows one of the pictures of the map when the eclipse was about half-way.  It wasn't the easiest to get good sharp pictures of the map shadow.  But I did get a few.

I guess my favorite phenomina was what happened to the shadows coming down through the trees.  I read last night that the leaves would act like pinholes...and did they ever!  Really strange...they almost looked 3-D.  I got several pictures of the shadows through the trees. I will share one that I took out in the road in front of our house.  We have plenty of trees to act like a pinhole camera!  The place that I chose to set up the camera never lost the sun shining on it...I just had to move a bit as the shadows started moving towards the camera and the paper on the ground.

Besides shadows other observations that happened right at the 99% eclipse for us: the street light came on and the temperature dropped.  And, inside the house the rooms became very dark.  I needed to turn on the light at 1:30pm to see my way through the dining room.  I did take a picture from the kitchen through the door into the dining room and beyond into the living room...but it is so dark that it isn't much of a picture...more of a memory for me when I look back on the pictures that I took this day!

It never got totally dark...but the cicadas started to chirp and there was an eerie darkness for 1:30 in the afternoon!  When I first took a picture of the temperature, it showed that it was 86 and not long after 1:30 I walked back inside and checked and it had dropped to below 80 and not long after the end of the eclipse it was back up to the upper 80's. The street light didn't stay on very long...I'm just glad that I looked up when I did so I was able to capture it with the camera. The last picture is at the end of the eclipse and the pin dot is once again totally round.  I really did have fun capturing the eclipse without looking at it...just experienced it through shadows.

 Nathan and Kathy and family were in Kentucky for one of the eclipse watching "festivals."  They got home a little while ago.  And the chilcren that I have seen so far were really impressed.  They did have the glasses and got to experience it as a total eclipse.  Isaac also was quite impressed with a group of clowns that he met during the festivities!  He came in to see me in clown face.  He told me all about the eclipse...but also told me all the names of the clowns!

Tomato Season

I decided that this would be a good picture to post since we are in the midst of tomato season here in TN...nothing better than a nice vine ripened tomato.  This is a sculpture outside of the Nashville Farmers/World Market.  I spent part of today making salads that will taste yummy with thick slices of ripe tomatoes.

Woody got up and walked early this morning.  Later in the morning he went to the public library and then went visiting at the hospital.

Last night I finished one of the books I have been reading.  Today, when I took a break from cooking, I have been reading some more in the cookbook that I have been reading.

Really it has been a pretty quiet Saturday...not a lot happening.

Be On the Lookout!

Have you noted family groupings in the back window of vehicles?  Well, Nathan, decided that their vehicle needed a personalized family grouping!  From left to right: Nathan (Crazy Tie Guy), Kathy, Graham, Abigail, Joy, Esther, Elijah, Isaac, Joseph.  Nathan has a new machine that will scan and cut things that he has drawn and he is enjoying using it for various things like this personalized family, a sign on the side of their van, their website lighted up on the front of the van, bean bag pieces cut from fabric so he can sew the bean bags, business card size of some of his reversible words, etc. Abigail and I had him attempt something the other day that didn't work the first time, but will probably work given another try. Anyway, he is having fun with his new "toy" and doing a bit of advertising of their ministry as they travel around the country.  Next on their slate is an Eclipse gathering in Kentucky.

Woody got up early and walked four-miles.  Later in the morning, he headed off to do our weekly grocery shopping.  I put away the food when he got home.  And, while he was gone, I walked down the street to a yardsale.  One of my friend's mother died recently and they were having a yardsale today which included a lot of her sewing things.  I got some buttons, a couple of patterns, and a throw-size piece of batting.  I pretty well refrained myself as I just don't need a lot more that has to do with sewing!  I did finish my pj pants today and have the fabric for the top ironed and spread out on my cutting table awaiting the pattern to be pinned onto it.  Woody made another recipe of his coleslaw.

We are settling in for another quiet Friday evening in our household...probably reading, watching a bit of TV, perhaps a crossword for Woody. I have finished my books of Sudoku puzzles...so no puzzle working for me these days. One of the books that I am reading is a cookbook...very interesting reading about the four elements of cooking: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat.  I have a couple of fiction books from the church library that I'm reading also.  But I may leave the books in their stack and go cut out my pj top...lots of choices to do in the quiet of the evening! Let me know if you spot the above vehicle in your neck of the woods...they show up just about anywhere and everywhere that their vehicle can roam.

Mad Scientist?!?

Elijah had his long time with me this morning and we started doing science experiments.  He got candles to burn under water, made rice dance, and found out how to keep a balloon from breaking when it is held directly over a flame (put water in it)!  The bottom picture shows what happens to a balloon when there is no water in it...a big pop and balloon pieces flying! The rest had their school times too...so another busy morning...and the first full week of Grammy School is behind us!

Woody walked his four-miles early this morning. Joseph spent time with Goosey (Woody) after his school time as he has done each school day.  Isaac continues to love to sew on buttons. Whenever he gets a spare moment, he shows up to sew one more.  He has quite a well supplied sewing basket (little scissors, a pin cushion, needle threader, needles, buttons, thread, fabric pieces) and is really loving it.  I guess I have created a sewing monster out of him...at least for the moment till the newness wears off.  I asked him today why he was loving it so much and he said, "Well, I had to wait all that time till I was in kindergarten to be able to sew buttons!"  I think that he has sewn on 18 buttons in the short time since he had his first lesson!  He has sewn on two-hole buttons, four-hole buttons and just tried a shank button for the first time.  Anyone need any buttons sewn on anything?!? The button-sewing expert lives right next door to me! Elijah was funny when Isaac was trying to impress him with his button sewing skills.  Elijah just smiled and then said, but I know another faster way to sew them on...on the sewing machine!  I'm not quite ready for Isaac to try the sewing machine method! Sewing machine sewing starts in first grade...do you think that he will be able to wait that long?!?

Today the second video lesson in my sewing group was published and I enjoyed watching it after school was over.  This time it is about sewing piping and the teacher shared several tricks that she uses that do seem like they would make it much easier to do.  I haven't had time to try her methods out yet.

First Sewing Lessons

Today Joseph had his first sewing lesson that I teach.  Sewing with sewing cards.  He was pretty proud of his "creation."  Isaac had been counting the days till he started kindergarten and would get his first lesson with "hand sewing."  That first lesson is sewing on buttons.  He did great!  He enjoyed it so much he came back over this afternoon to sew a few more on.  Note Isaac's Poland shirt!

Woody headed off to the local farmer's market before school started this morning.  He got tomatoes and some of the best peaches!  Joseph, again, spent most of the morning with Goosey (Woody) after he had his school time with me.  Isaac followed Joseph and got right to work on his reading and his math lesson so he could start "hand sewing."  Elijah, Abigail, and Joy had their reading times with me.  Then Esther came for her long time.  We got the fabric for a new apron into the wash and found all the pattern pieces that she will need to make her apron.  Then she practiced threading the machine and stitching straight lines and then stitched out some of the fancy stitches on the machine.

After lunch, I headed to the church to work in the library for a couple of hours.  We mainly did maintenance and a couple of other routine tasks since we had finished processing the book order last week.  I came home and flopped in my chair for a little while and Isaac sewed a few more buttons.  I did make a casserole for our supper while Woody went to try to visit with one of his new Sunday School boys.  We are now settling in for the evening.  I'm feeling the effects of a pretty busy day...not much energy to sew this evening.  I did sew more last night and am ready to put the elastic on the waist of my pj pants.  But I think that task will wait for another day unless I get a surge of energy in the next little while!

Rainy Tuesday Afternoon

This afternoon we have had several hard showers move through...I was out and about and luckily each time a shower started I was in a store and was over by the time I came out...that happened twice and then when I went next door to give Abigail something another shower...again...over before I headed home. Showers like these continue to make our flowers and plants quite happy...they still look good for this time in the summer.

Woody didn't walk this morning because he usually walks to the prayer room on Tuesday evenings.  But tonight he combined attempting to visit some of his Sunday School boys with his prayer room visit.  So no walk today.

We had our second school day and it went a lot happier for Joseph today!  He popped right in and got busy and when school was over he wasn't ready to head back to his house.  Instead he spent most of the rest of the morning with Woody downstairs.  Joy had her first long Grammy time.  She continues to learn how to paper piece small quilt blocks.  She is going to make a few more and then I am going to show her how to make some larger quilt blocks so she can make herself a throw-size quilt (maybe).

After lunch I went to get my hair cut.  My next appointment will happen a few days before Cheryl comes for her visit...that means her visit is just a little over 4-weeks away.  After my haircut I went to JoAnn's to get some felt for a project that Abigail is doing and found a piece of fabric for me..  Then I went to WalMart to get a few things.  All my gadabouting didn't allow for a nap today...maybe that will mean a better night's sleep tonight?  I started making my pajama pants after supper.  I guess I got motivated because I found a piece of fabric to make a pj top this afternoon at JoAnn's.  I guess I will head back to my machines and sew a little more this evening.

Grammy's School...Back in Session

This morning we got underway with the new school year over here.  Joseph was the first to come...he had a bit of a problem coming over as he had to be "pulled away" from something that he was watching...I hope that he comes over happier tomorrow!  He ended up having a good school time with me and then went downstairs and worked in the family room with the set of forrest animals and didn't leave till the end of Isaac's time.  Isaac came over with a happy face and we got going on his school work a bit more quickly than Joseph and I.  Everything is review at this point...just getting back in the swing.  Elijah, then Esther, then Joy came for their reading times.  And, then it was time for Abigail's long Grammy time.  She is planning a banner type thing for a group that she helps teach at church.  She needs some felt colors that I didn't have so we switched back to working on a pair of shorts that she cut out just before summer vacation began.  She also was the first one to sew on the machine for this school year so she "got" to clean the machine before we started sewing.  So a busy morning for me to get back in the school routine...started at 8:30 and ended at noon.  It wasn't very long after lunch before I found myself napping in my chair! It's going to take my body a while to get used to being back in a school routine...I can tell!

Woody stayed around till after Joseph went home.  And then Woody went to the Life Care for Bible study with Jeff and also visited with friends who reside there.  After that he made a stop at the hospital to check in on a friend there.  He made another trip back to Life Care after lunch to take something to one of the residents. This evening he is at the Monday night prayer meeting at church.

It's Been 17 Years!

Happy 17th anniversary to Nathan and Kathy!  They have had a busy day.  Kathy and Abigail left early to go to a church conference in Nashville and Nathan left shortly after them for a meeting in Cookeville.  Abigail came home with the church group after the conference.  Nathan picked up Kathy after her meeting and they went on an anniversary date somewhere between Nashville and here.

Woody headed over next door before Nathan left this morning and we have rotated back and forth during the day.  He stayed next door most of the time.  I took advantage of Woody not sitting in his recliner and ended up spot cleaning it.  He still isn't sitting in it as it hasn't quite dried.  It must be a week that I have been in the mood for my mother's recipes as today I made her recipe for Boston Baked Beans.  They take all night soaking and then all day cooking.  They were done just in time for supper.  One of the times that I went next door for a while, Woody went visiting at the hospital. After he got back from visiting, I headed back to the house and put the final touches on the Sunday School lesson that I'm teaching tomorrow.  Woody is home now and as soon as he got home he started making his favorite recipe for slaw.  He likes to have slaw when we have baked beans.  Anyway, it seems to have been a busy day all around...cooking, cleaning, keeping an eye on six children, Sunday School lessons, hospital visiting...yup...a pretty full day!

Friday

It has been a fairly normal Friday for us.  Woody got up early and walked his four mile circle.  Later in the morning, he went to the grocery stores to do our weekly shopping.  While he was at the store, I cleaned out the refrigerator...getting it ready for more food when he got home.  I put away the groceries.  For our supper I made a recipe of Mother's for pork chops and mashed some red potatoes with the skin on...my new favorite way to make mashed potatoes...much easier than peeling them...and we really like them that way.  It wasn't very long after we ate, that I sat down in my chair to rest for a few minutes...and the next thing I knew it was past time to blog!  Then when I did get in here, the computer decided to be as slow as molases.  Kathy and I talked today and we came up with a schedule for my part of their school week.  We will try the new schedule this next week.

New Shoes & A Volleyball Game

I took Abigail to get her back to school shoes today.  She wanted them for her first volleyball game.  She is a Lady Knight.  She (lucky #13) only got to practice with her team tonight as she hasn't gotten to practice enough with them this year since she has been "on the road" with her family.  Her Jr. Varsity team is a homeschool team and they play different schools in the area. Abigail is an eighth grader this year. During the first game they kept it pretty close, but the other team took the second game fairly easily.  So the Lady Knights suffered a loss tonight, but it looked like they had fun playing and hopefully Abigail picked up some pointers on the sidelines!

Woody walked four miles early this morning.  I thought that we were going to get a lot of rain, but we only got a little today.  Areas not far from us got LOTS...some got as much as 5 inches and lots of roads were flooded, but we pretty much stayed "high and dry." It's pretty humid.

A Bit of Gadabouting

Woody got up early and walked his four miles.  Then he went to the local farmer's market a bit earlier than usual as I had plans to go out for breakfast with friends.  I spent most of the morning away from the house eating a leisurely breakfast at one of the local cafes here in town.  Then the three of us walked down to a furniture store and looked around a bit.  By that time it was almost lunch time!  We always have fun when we get together...lots of laughs and catching up...what should we expect when we have known each other for around 40 years!

After lunch (this time I guess I should say after noon, as I wasn't hungry for lunch!), I headed off to the church to work in the library for a couple of hours.  Donna and I did general maintenance (checking books in and out and shelving the ones that had come back) and then started planning our next book order.  I ran a quick errand on the way home.  We are now settling in for the evening...another quiet one.

Learning the Ropes

 Esther and Elijah learned a new task tonight...their first time to get behind the mower!  Graham (the usual mower) told Esther that it was like drawing in the grass!  Definitely the thing to tell a budding little artist...a good "Tom Sawyer come-on!"  Both she and Elijah were excited to try their hand at this new task.  It was definitely a tough job as the grass was quite thick due to all the rain that we have been having.  They made a great effort at the job with help every so often from another in the family...Kathy, Nathan, and even Graham.  For a while Joy supervised from the hammock, but in the end decided that she wanted to take a few passes with the mower. Good on the job training and Graham seemed like he thought that it was a good idea to pass the job on...time will tell!

Woody returned from his walk to and from the Prayer Room at church while I was outside watching the mowers and ended up locking me out...he didn't know that I was outside.

I have done a little cleaning today and then "made" a pie.
Now I really don't consider that I made the pie since I used a bought graham cracker crust and a Jello pudding and pie mix for the lemon filling.  I did make the meringue.  I'm used to doing things more from scratch than I did with this pie so it seemed a little like cheating!  But it was good.  A week or so ago, I was making a salad with what I thought was lemon jello and when I opened the box, it ended up being lemon Jello pudding.  So I made the pudding and I realized that it reminded me a lot of my mother's lemon meringue pie...though she did NOT use a Jello mix.  Since I made that comment, Woody bought another box and a graham cracker crust (his choice for a merenge pie) and so today I made us a pie.  It really does taste good...not quite like Mother's since she used a regular pie crust rather than graham cracker crust. Anyway, we had dessert for a change.

Here is a picture to show that Joy didn't just lie back and watch all the work going on around her! Everyone is dressed to avoid mosquitoes.  I got nibbled on several times while I was outside and now am rather itchy.

Oh, and, I did get an email from my Cottey roommate this morning and it looks like she is going to start making plans to attend the reunion, too.  Looking forward to seeing her after many years.  We have talked every so often on the phone and have seen each other several times over the years since graduation but it has been quite a few years now. I think that perhaps the last time we saw each other was at our 20th Cottey reunion...oh, my...30 years ago!  She and her family have been to Tullahoma and we have been to visit with them in Kansas, but I guess both those visits were while our children were young and before our 20th reunion. Time has a habit of slipping away.    

Wet Underfoot

We have had some more rain today...once again we seem to be in a rain pattern.  It's so good to be in this kind of pattern rather than a drought pattern.  It's so nice to see things stay green throughout the summer.  I just checked Woody's digital rain gauge and we have had over a 1/2 inch in the last 24 hours...not a tremendous amount...but enough to make it wet underfoot.  I found out when I ran a quick errand next door a little while ago.

Woody got up this morning and had his walk.  He mentioned that it was quite humid while he walked...not all that hot...just humid.  He said about the moment that he got back in the house it began to rain.  So I guess he missed getting drenched.  He made some more blueberry zucchini bread today.  Did I mention that the zucchini that he bought from the farmer's market was huge?  It made four very large loaves of yummy bread. He took a loaf of it to church for the youth before Sunday School snack.  He gave one to the neighbors (Nathan and Kathy and family), we have pretty much wiped one out, and he has one for the freezer.  He left me in charge of getting these two loaves out of the oven, when he went to the Life Care Center for Bible study with Jeff and then went to the hospital to visit a patient.  Then he stopped by an elderly gentleman's house who is in his Deacon family.  He had a busy morning. This evening he came to the "rescue" of Nathan and family.  They were coming back into town from a weekend reunion with Kathy's family in the Smokies.  Three of the family needed to be three different places.  Woody met them at the edge of town at the National Guard Armory to give Graham a change of clothes (that I managed to find) so Graham would be properly dressed at his Civil Air Patrol meeting, then Woody delivered Kathy at a meeting at church, and Nathan drove Abigail to her volley ball practice.

I have had a fun day planning a future adventure.  I have my 50th college reunion from Cottey College in Nevada (not pronounced like the state...the "a" after the "v" is long), MO coming up in April.  I had pretty much decided that I wouldn't go...until...I got an email from our class rep at the end of last week and the email included me in the group of 35 that were going at this point in the planning.  So seeing my name there made me reconsider!  Also a reference to me about me perhaps taking photos at the reunion got my attention...would hate them to "only" have phone pics!  Woody and I talked it over and we decided that we would start making plans to go.  At the moment the plan is that he and I will drive to Cottey.  I made our hotel reservations today.  I don't know how much Woody will just hide out in the hotel room, but he needs to be there as part of my memorabilia!  After all...I met Woody there so he is a part of my Cottey life!  It is an all-girl college to this day...Woody happened to bring his heart broken roommate over to Cottey for a dance...and ended up changing his own life forever!!!  And, literally I saw him across a crowded room and decided that he was the person that I wanted to spend that evening with.  He took me to my first Cottey reunion after we had been married for a week and now he will take me to my 50th at which point we will have just recently celebrated our 49th anniversary.  From what I understand the current chef at Cottey is fantastic so perhaps Woody will be rewarded for his "sacrifice" through some good eating! I have been Facebook Instant messaging today with Cottey friends and emailing my roommate and other friends.  Our class goal is to have 50 or more at our 50th. I'm hoping that my roommate will be able to come.  This should be fun..I think!

Now I have my sister's visit, Cottey reunion, and my sewing classes to look forward to.  Lots of activities seem to be popping up. I guess I am kicking up my heels like the calf in tonight's picture!

And, with that thought of me kicking up my heels (Never in your wildest dreams could I any more kick up my heels at this point in my life!), I think that it is time to settle in for a quiet evening after all the "excitement" in our day!

Lots of Green = Poor Visibility Sometimes

Tonight's pictures show why it is hard at times to get pictures of barns in late spring and summer.  Green just takes over here in Tennessee.  These barns will be easier to see once the leaves start to fall...so late fall, winter and early spring make for the best time around here to be able to really see what is along the side of the highways and byways!

Woody really had a busy morning.  He start his day with a really early morning walk.  Later in the morning, he headed to the Post Office to mail a package for me.  Then I don't know in what order but he went to the library, registered Elijah for Fall Ball, picked up some free Major League Baseball stickers for Elijah, visited at the hospital, and went to Aldis.  I may have even left something out...I'm not sure.  I know that he left a little before 9am and didn't get back home till after noon.

I continue to work on samples for my sewing class/club.  I am working on setting up a notebook.  So far I have done two samples to put in the notebook.  I have been checking out stitches and their settings and then recording them on the technique sheets that go in the notebook.  I watched the class video again...probably a couple of times...but part of the time it was just running as background noise...I wasn't actually watching.  I did learn a new "skill" today...how to save a video from Facebook onto my computer.  That way I don't have to be dependant on an internet connection to watch it.

Friday

And, here we are back to Friday...they seem to roll around all too often these days...not that I don't like Friday...but it just seems like I blink and it is Friday again.  Woody walked early this morning.  Then a bit later in the morning he did our weekly shopping.  Today making stops at Aldis, WalMart and Kroger. When he got back home I put the groceries away...my contribution to the grocery effort!

I worked some more on my sewing technique class.  The teacher had a problem getting the video to download...it downloaded...but took a tremendously long time.  She started it downloading yesterday evening and it didn't fully download till this afternoon!  I worked on getting pages printed out for my notebook while I waited.  I also got the list of sewing club members names ready to download onto our sewing club page on Facebook.  It isn't totally complete, but at least it is there for folk to refer to it and act as a reminder to those who haven't given the information yet.  I will update it later when the information is complete. I enjoyed watching the first video when it finally downloaded mid afternoon today.  She is a very good teacher and does a very precise job explaining techniques.

Woody put together another batch of what I call "meat loaf burgers"...again...not my favorite...but they tasted pretty good tonight with a nice slice of tomato on them.  Woody is enjoying burgers at the moment since we have a good supply of fresh tomatoes.

He did a little watering this afternoon and perhaps that is what brought us a shower or two a little after he watered.  He also got caught in the first shower as he was out shucking corn when it started up without much warning.