Pictures

Some photos pertaining to previous posts. (I only just figured out how to upload them onto the new computer.)

Little seamstress at work.



The "school wall" for showing off the latest projects. This way the day we learned about purple. It's interesting noting the girls' different creative styles. Miriam is so methodic in her creations, while Katie is more willing to experiment.


This was from Sept. 12, the feast of the Holy Name of Mary. I ran out of blue icing. :(
It was fun to make this cake -- it was the first time I had ever made a cake from scratch. I realize now why all women of a certain generation owned hand mixers. After 30 minutes of beating butter, then butter & sugar, then egg yolks, then egg whites, I began to lose some of my scorn for those who owned kitchen mixers! :)


The Katie who wore a pot on her head.


Awww, such loving sisters!

More Homeschooling

Answers for the curious:

Second Day of Homeschooling

During breakfast I read a couple passages from the Bible. I read the accounts of the Annunciation and the Visitation, hoping that putting a story to each of the Mysteries of the Rosary would give Miriam something to think about besides how tired she is during family Rosary at bedtime. Miriam LOVED this! Throughout the day she kept begging me to read more from the Bible. I've decided to read about one Mystery each day, and then continue with Bible Stories.
For Morning Prayers we say this prayer that I learned from good ol' Prof. G at the Alma Mater:
Direct, O Lord, all our actions by Your holy inspirations, and carry them out by Your gracious assistance; so that every prayer and work of ours may always begin with You, and through You be happily ended. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
This is followed by a short hymn, "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow," since Miriam loves to sing so much. I'll probably change the hymn periodically. When I get a little flag to salute we'll learned the Pledge of Allegiance.
We read the story "Funny Jack" from The Bumper Book (an ancient story book which according to Amazon is worth quite a bit!). I'm sure everyone's heard a version of the story -- it's about the foolish boy who keeps carrying home presents incorrectly. The school lesson I wanted to get out of it was remembering a sequence of events, or doing this and not that to a string of objects. I don't know if the lesson took -- but I thought Miriam would appreciate the boy's silliness anyway.
For Math we learned about coins -- I gave her a penny, nickel, dime and quarter and let her explore them; then we played a game where I put a coin in her hand and she had to guess what it was by feeling. She was pretty good. I haven't bothered to touch the idea of values of coins -- maybe next year. Right now we're just focusing on distinguishing and naming them. I'd leave some coins out for her to explore regularly, but since Katie is still in a very oral phase I'm afraid of what could happen if she got a hold of one.
Next we learned about Responsibility thanks to the Three Little Kittens and the Book of Virtues.
For Reading readiness we learned about the letter V. We've been going through the letters of the alphabet one by one. We've only got a couple left. As soon as we've done them all I'll have to take a picture of our "letter wall!"
By this point Miriam was getting antsy so I pulled out the tempura paint and let her finger paint. She thought this was great fun. She was supposed to learn that red and yellow made orange, but I think I added too much red. Her mesterpiece is mostly red with a few pinkish highlights here and there.
For storytime she chose a story about Joseph of Egypt. Then when taking a nap became obviously out of the question, she helped me make a PBJ sandwich card game, then we played it together. (I have to confess I ripped the idea out of a cool kids stuff catalog. I pore over those kinds of things for ideas now!) We play the game almost every day. Now Katie will walk up and say, "Kay turn! Kay turn!"
To get the wiggles out we sang and danced "Looby Loo" (sort of a tamer version of the Hokey Pokey). Katie loved going Looby Loo. She also loves playing Ring Around the Rosy. She also loves going around the Mulberry Bush. Actually, she pretty much loves anything that involves holding hands and running around in a circle.
But I digress.

My thoughts for the day: it's important for Miriam to switch back & forth between busy and quiet activities -- otherwise she gets bored from being still too long or hyper from moving too much.

Thursday Mom needed a break (since I didn't have a set lesson plan and had to wing it each day), so we shopped for new carpet (hooray!), took a long walk, and rested as much as Mom could. I learned however that the girls do better with a schedule. They were at each other's throats for much of the day. I understand now why parents of schoolchildren hate holidays! :b

Third Day of Homeschooling

Friday was sort of a half day. It was Mother Mary's birthday, so we celebrated by going to Mass and a little party afterwards in the parish hall. Then we shopped and ran errands all dressed up. I can't prove it, but I think the girls may behave better when they're dressed up. At least, they get more comments from people about how adorable they are, and therefore don't want to tarnish their images. :)
In the afternoon I started making bean bags from some leftover fleece from the scrap bag. I wanted to make something active for Miriam to do on days when we can't go outside for recess. On Saturday I finished them, and Miriam helped. I threaded a needle for her and started a couple stitches, then let her finish whip-stitching them closed. She was actually very good! I was duly impressed by how even her stitches were. We have a little seamstress in the making. Time for her first sampler! :)

Well, my additional thoughts at the end of our first week of scheduled homeschooling:

5 days a week is too much to start with, as I discovered after 2 days! :) For one thing, I've still got a household to run. So M/W/F are now dedicated to school in the mornings, and T/Th are for playdates and errands. Our afternoons are technically free, but since both girls still take naps (praise be!), and Mommy needs her afternoon teatime, that really only leaves us an hour in the afternoon before it's time to start dinner. (This is just enough time for the weekly grocery trip, however.)
So a typical school day looks like this:
6:30am (ugh) -- Rise etc.
8:00-ish -- Breakfast
9:00-ish -- Start school, with recess (15 min. walk, weather permitting) in there somewhere
11:30am -- Clean-up
Noon -- Lunch
Game
1:00pm -- Storytime
Nap
3:00pm -- Tea
Walk
5:00pm -- Dinner Prep while girls do puzzles
6:00pm -- Dinner, followed by rapid progression to bedtime

For a while that 4 to 6 time period was just killer -- we were all such cranks. Poor Mr. Pickles when he came home to us! I finally figured out that if I spend some "quality time" with the girls in the afternoon, they're much more likely to leave me alone while I'm trying to prepare dinner. I can't say that I'm very faithful to this ideal, but the afternoons I make an effort (*cough* get off the computer *cough*) go much more smoothly.

Regarding tea time -- I just read an interesting article on the Charlotte Mason website about ending your homeschooling day with afternoon tea. Lady Lydia has had a bit to say about that recently too. I really liked that idea -- there's something so civilizing about formalizing the afternoon snack. It also gives me an excuse to bake yummy comforting things during this icky murky weather. :)

And regarding recess -- as any parent knows, kids have lots of energy to burn after they eat. I'm trying to make sure mine get some kind of recess after every meal. After breakfast I pretty much turn them loose while I clean up the kitchen. After lunch I want to play active games with Miriam -- bean or ball toss games -- some big muscle movement stuff. And after tea time I like to take them to the playground. Katie's such a busy little person that I don't need to worry about her keeping active, but Miriam will happily sit for hours on the couch, reading. I'm not complaining about her love of books, but for the sake of her health she needs to be more active. (I do too!)


So... that's our first week! All in all I'm very happy about it -- I've learned a lot about my girls and myself already, in just these past few days! I'm really looking forward to the upcoming school year, to introducing the universe to Miriam and Katie.

Further bulletins as events warrant!

Miriam's Dream

Apparently Miriam has interesting dreams. I came in halfway through her description of one to Mr. Pickles, and heard:

...and it was pink and purple allll over! ...Mommy, I want to tell you something! There was a dragon, and it breathed fire, and it swallowed too much and was sick and it gagged, and it BREATHED FIRE! So it went to the hostipal, and the doctor looked in its mouth and there was this HUGE HOLE and it wasn't never there before. So the doctor gave it a brand, new, SHINY one and put it in, and it was all better, and its mommy 'n' daddy were so happy. And it was a girl, and its mommy 'n' daddy named her Cindalella, and gave her a BOOTIFUL dress one, like in long Cindalella*, an' it was pink and had a bow on it, and beads, and a bow on her head. And then there was a bootiful pink carriage, so she could go to the ball, and it had a pink bow on its head, and there was a pink man, and he held on TIGHT. ...And that's my dream!


*"long Cindalella" is Miriam's name for Disney's Cinderella, as opposed to "short Cindalella" which is the Julie Andrews TV movie

It's hard to appreciate the full affect of her narration without all her hand gestures. They really make the story.

5 Down, 0 to Go

It all started about 1 year before Mrs. Pickles and I married. Before our marriage I was pretty thin--down to about 165 pounds. I was thin enough that people asked my dear wife if I was okay and healthy. My main problem at the time was that I was a batchelor, and I was cheap. Compared to the electricity bill and rent, food was one of those extra expenses that I knew I ought to spend some money on. Even though I cooked for myself, I was pretty stingy about my purchases. The other effect was anxiety. I was helping to plan a wedding afterall and preparing for marriage, and, considering my history, that was a big deal.

About 1-2 years after we married I was up to about 185 pounds. Good job Mrs. Pickles! Your husband was obviously fat and happy!! Aside from the additional food I started to eat (I had someone with whom I could share meals now), anxiety lessened. Yes, marriage has been very, very good for me. Of course, I have an awesome wife, so that was expected. Once I gained that weight I noticed that certain sets of pants no longer fit me. They slowly became a bit snug around the midsection. Since I was gaining weight, I decided that I might as well buy pants there were a little bit larger than I needed. Afterall, I was only going to be gaining more weight. Right? That's what happens when you get older? Right?

I suppose the answer to that question all depends upon one's age and genetics; because my answer thus far has been "no." I didn't gain any weight for about 3 years. I didn't change any of my habits. I just didn't gain any weight. I was sort of surprised. Maybe I'll be surprised again when I hit 35 and start to gain weight (note to Mrs. P: I think a nice sports car will help to offset those effects of "middle age").

The other twist is that I've recently been loosing weight. In this instance there is an actual reason for it. My wife has started to ration my food, and she is keeping all of the best portions for herself (think Mr. Simpson in H.H.'s "The Duel").

The real reason is that I joined a street hockey team. I can hear you say it now, "Greg, I didn't know that you played hockey." Well, I didn't, and it was pretty obvious during the first season that I played. I play for a team call "Storm" in the DC Street hockey league. Our initial team name was "Papal Killer War Gerbils" (ask me later), but it just didn't roll off the tongue like "Storm". Check out the scores from our first season, starting with week 6. Terrible. To give you an idea of how badly we were beaten: loosing by 2 goals is bad but o-kay, loosing by 3 goals is pretty bad, and loosing by 4 goals is horrible. I think most teams congratulated us for our humility by coming out and getting beaten with an ugly stick every single game. Most of us were rookies who had never played or taken an interest in hockey prior to playing in this league, so the scores were not surprising. We were typically clueless, and we ran around like a bunch blind, three-legged cats in a fish market.

Fortunately for me, that running and hockey playing has had a mostly positive effect for me. What is street hockey like? Imagine ultimate frisbee with more physical contact and a penalty box. It is a physically demanding sport that requires a lot of quickness (physical and analytical)and speed. I decided after our first season that I wanted to drop some weight so that I could be quicker. After starting to workout and making some minor dietary changes I dropped about 15 lbs.

Now to the title of this post: I'm having the opposite "problem" that I had after my first two years of marriage. I'm loosing weight and my clothes are becoming loose. On my belt I have 5 holes, and I recently moved down to the the last hole. I don't suspect that I'll need to drill another hole anytime in the near future, and it is strange to see myself progress in a direction (fitness-wise) I never anticipated.

Our team is much better now after gaining some experience and acquiring new players with experience. Our record this season is 2-1, so we now have more victories this season than in our last 2 seasons combined--an especially good start for us.

On the whole it has been a great experience to learn and appreciate a new game, and I've a made a number of friends that I normally wouldn't have come to know. It is a lot of fun, and Miriam and Katie enjoy coming out to the games. Many of my teammates are fathers, so the presence of multiple playmates helps. :)

We've been off for about 4 weeks, and everybody has appreciated it. The median age on our team is about 35, so injuries are somewhat prevalent for a bunch of relatively out-of-shape men who sit behind desks all day. Our next game is this weekend, but I won't play due to injury. I shall be there to cheer on my teammates. Onward to victory!

First Day of School!

Today was Mirima's first official day of school. To tell the truth, it wasn't much different from every other day! Preschool involves lots of playing, reading books, and arts and crafts anyway -- so basically our day involved me doing more hands-on, one-on-one stuff with her than usual. Doing this regularly will be good for both of us -- I've been having a difficult time lately dealing with her, since she's been acting especially annoying. I think we both need the extra connection time.

So, what was our day like? Well, after morning prayer (that reminds me -- gotta get a little flag to salute) we switched her window calendar over to September and fall-theme clingies. Katie "helped." That was math -- she had to organize the numbers 1-30. Then we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (a fun alphabet book), and then worked on "N" in her dry-erase ABC book, while Katie scribbled with crayons. I tried a little exercise to reinforce her knowledge of the letter sound (pointing to pictures of things that start with "n"), but this ended up being frustrating for both of us. Maybe it's just because it was the first time doing this kind of exercise -- hopefully after a few repetitions of this kind of exercise it will be easier for her. At least the lesson sunk in -- at dinner she was telling Mr. Pickles that N was for nest, and night, and numbers, but hand started with H. And she was proud of herself for that knowledge. It's so hard to know when trying to challenge and encourage your child is actually just asking too much of them and making them hate you and the lesson and the world in general, so seeing her enthusiasm later in the day let me know that it was right for me to have finished the exercise with her, instead of giving it up. I want her to be enthusiastic about learning -- the absolute last thing I want is for her to come to dread school time -- but I also want her to learn persistence and patience in overcoming difficulties (something I'm not very good at myself).
To help her get over her frustration I pulled out the tempura paints and gave them both brushes. Katie loves painting too. So far she hasn't tried eating the paint -- it smells nasty enough! Today's colors were yellow and white. After a while I added a squirt of red, so their pictures ended up being all salmon-pinky after the layers and layers of paint they slathered on. Then they had a snack (nice healthy peaches) while I had a couple moments to work on the computer. I've learned that whenever they eat they need to run around a bit after the sugar hits the bloodstream, so we loaded ourselves up with boots and raincoats and umbrellas to brave the fine drizzle for a 15 minute recess. Then it was storytime, which everybody looks forward to, Mommy most of all b/c it's immediately followed by naptime! Today's story was Corduroy. After we finished and Mommy was deaf to Miriam's pleadings and suggestions for more books, we traipsed upstairs for "quiet time." I've found that I get more cooperation when I disguise unpleasant things (like the suggestion of taking a nap) with code words. Quiet time sounds more like a little, temporary break -- rather than a complete removal from the world. Sometimes a 20 minutes break really is all Miriam needs to be refreshed & cheerful again. Well, today, naps were out of the question. We had all slept in so late that even though I waited until later to put them down, they still weren't tired enough to sleep. So I had recourse to that great gift for a mother's sanity -- the electronic babysitter -- aka The VCR! Completely non-educational, purely entertaining brain candy today -- Disney cartoons. It's interesting though -- even though Miriam sits seemingly passive, she's completely absorbed into whatever she's watching, taking it all in. She remembers everything afterwards. This is one of the reasons why it's such a pain to let her watch TV -- she gets so into it that it's hard for her to pull herself out again, and consequently throws a tantrum. I have to say that I can sympathize -- I'm the same way. I get so absorbed into the story that I HATE stopping movies in the middle. And there are few things more annoying to me than someone who likes to TALK during the movie! The nerve! Anyways, after she got over her tantrum, Miriam sat in my lap and started telling me ALL about the cartoons -- different funny parts, some scary parts and characters, amazing things that happened -- whatever struck her. Even though it's not my first choice for entertainment, it's good to see that to her it's just another form of storytelling. I can't help but wonder if she would still be this way if she watched a lot of TV -- I would think that after a while it would become mind-numbing.
After that it was tea-time (well, apple juice for the girls), and then I pretty much turned them free. I needed recess! :) So I curled up with a cup of Chai Spice tea and Harry Potter #2 until it was time to clean up and make dinner.

A couple thoughts at the end of the day:
#1. I really need to get organized! I had actually COMPLETELY forgotten about starting school with Miriam this week until a couple days ago, and did some quick research on Monday while Mr. Pickles was home. Primarily I checked out Calvert and Charlotte Mason for ideas. Lots of great stuff there to keep me going! I need to make out a lesson plan so I know what to do each day. I function much better with someone telling me what to do. :) Today was a bit draining for me b/c I didn't know what I was going to do -- I had vague ideas about a schedule, but no definite plan. I know some people who thrive on "unschooling," but I need more discipline to function well.

#2. It was difficult keeping Miriam on task. She's so used to ordering her day (and her parents), that she didn't quite get the "we're doing THIS and not THAT" thing. For example, we were working on the N page, and she wanted to do the M page next. Or we were reading Corduroy, and she wanted to read another book next, despite the fact that I had explicitly stated that we were only reading ONE book. Or I wanted her to help me in the kitchen, but she wanted to play in the living room. She's grown to be so independent in some ways that she's really not used to a schedule imposed on her. But again, I think this is something she will easily get used to after a time. I know some parents are into "child-led learning" -- which I think is the essence of unschooling -- but I'd rather have my kids grow up with some kind of discipline when it comes to schedules and tasks. I'll still make sure to give them lots of free time, but I think school time will need to be scheduled in our home.

I had one fleeting moment during the day when I thought, "omigosh this is so overwhelming! How can I possibly keep her entertained and interested and enthusiastic for a whole school year? Wouldn't it just be easier to send her to preschool?" But then just the thought of sending her away, out of my reach, and so soon, stopped that kind of thinking in its tracks. All I really need is some guidance and resources to help me along.

So all in all, it was a good start, and I'm looking forward to spending more time with her. I can't wait until she can read -- what a world that will open for her!

The Picklesbane Conquered!

Well, it's only taken two years, but I FINALLY finished the border in the front bathroom, aka the Picklesbane!


Exhibit A


Exhibit B

Due to lighting the pictures weren't able to capture many of the designs, so I guess anyone who wants a better view will just have to come visit! (Just wait until the carpet is put in downstairs and our Deluxe Guest Suite is restored to its former glory!)

And no, those are not mystical symbols designed by a narf. I had the idea for painting musical symbols in the red border shortly after we painted that stripe, but I never made the time to finish it. Several months ago I even put a bottle of gold paint and a brush in the cabinet in the bathroom, thinking that would encourage me at least to work on it bit by bit. No such luck. Today was such a gloomy, misty day that Mr. Pickles and I decided it was perfect for doing those home projects we'd been putting off for... well, years. I painted the bathroom and he tacked down stereo speaker wires (for Mother's Day last year he bought me two speakers for the kitchen, so I could listen to music while I washed the dishes) and the girls generally made nuisances of themselves while The Greatest Opera Show on Earth blasted from the stereo. There's something about Saturdays that makes me want to listen to opera -- maybe from all those "Live from the Met" performances on the radio when I was growing up! :) I had lots of fun perusing my music books for ideas for the designs. Musically inclined guests should have fun guessing the meanings of some of the more obscure ones.

So. It's DONE! Huzzah!

Once Again, the Rumors of Our Demise Have Been Highly Exaggerated

Sorry we sort of dropped off the face of the earth for a while there... we've been busy. There is FINALLY some hope that our basement will be liveable again... someday! A week ago we had some contractors come in to work on the downstairs -- aside from doing the bathroom they also repaired plaster and painted and replaced two doors and put in new baseboards. They worked really hard for the 2 days they were here. We had hoped they would put in a new back door for us, but the new door wouldn't fit into our old frame: the WHOLE frame will have to be replaced. They didn't have time to do that for us, so we'll have to get someone else, and pronto -- rain water has been steadily leaking in somehow. Thank goodness we hadn't got the new carpet yet. I just hope the leakage hasn't damaged our beautiful new walls!

Note: guys may want to skip this next paragraph -- it's going to involve a discussion about the subtleties of color shades. :) The walls of the downstairs had been two colors -- half was builder white, the other half a creamy color that I loved. Unfortunately the men only had time for one color, so they painted everything white. I really wanted a warmer color for the walls down there (it's already cold enough!), so Mr. Pickles and I agreed independently of each other that while all the furniture was pushed into the middle of the room already, and there was no floor to worry about mussing up, we should grab the opportunity and paint now before the new carpet was installed. Great minds do think alike! So the next day we picked up a gallon of "Homestead Resort Sunwash" (apparently it's a National Trust for Historic Preservation color -- ooooooh) -- a pretty, creamy, warm yellow-ish white, and went to it.

Miriam got to help us paint. Armed with cheapy sponge paintbrush, she did some prep work for us (and left big gloppy smears on the wall). Katie was upset b/c she wanted to paint too and mean mommy and daddy wouldn't let her play with the fun yellow paint and she had been up since way too early and she was hungry and nobody loved her and the world was coming to an end! So Daddy gave her some lovin's. Mr. Pickles is very talented.


Multitasking Dad

Then Miriam got bored and cranky too so while pokey Mrs. Pickles tried to catch up on the edging Mr. Pickles laid out a picnic lunch for the girls on a towel downstairs. They both became different people after they ate. It's really quite amazing what personality changes occur in our children when we feed them. After their picnic lunch they were happy and content and self-sufficient again. Miraculous.

Anyway, short story long, progress is now visible! Unfortunately, the basement won't be done as soon as we had hoped. We thought it was going to be finished by this weekend (and were planning a celebratory party), but the carpeting will take longer than we thought. We had someone come in and measure every single inch of our floor, but we need to go pick out the new carpet. And before we do that, we need a new back door. God only knows how long it's going to take to get THAT done -- with all the rain from the recent storm, plus all the repair work that still probably needs to be done from June, we're sure all the local contractors are booked solid for weeks. Hopefully St. Joseph will send someone our way soon -- otherwise Mr. Pickles is going to get an ulcer!

We're beginning to feel like our house is a money pit. One of the windows in our bedroom is showing signs of leakage too (if crumbling plaster and curtain rod brackets that just randomly fall out of the wall at 3:00 am mean anything). Hopefully that's just a matter of re-caulking around the frame outside, although the soggy plaster will probably need to be replaced. Sigh. So much for our cruise to the Caribbean! :)

Big Girl Bed!

A few weeks ago we bought a new mattress for the girls to share.


(shoulda used fill flash)

The blanket down the middle is the international barrier (since Katie is a roving flip-flopper).

We wanted to get Katie out of the crib, b/c every morning I was waking up to the sound of SPROINGY! SPROINGY! SPROINGY! SPROINGY!! coming from their room. We figured it was only a matter of time before she bounced herself right out of the 20-year-old crib. And we'd been having a hard time shaking Miriam of the habit of coming to sleep on our floor every. single. night. We had also noticed that when Miriam was gone from the room, whenever Katie woke up during the night she'd freak out, but when Miriam was there, she'd roll over and go back to sleep. It was time for them to share a bed -- they needed each other's company.

In the picture you can see a chart above the bed (that I just haven't removed yet) -- it's a picture of a pink, frilly, girly four-poster bed.




Every time Miriam stayed in her bed ALL NIGHT she got to put a sticker on the picture, and when all the circle cut-outs were filled, she got to sleep in her NEW BED! Worked like a charm. Miriam is not one to resist the incentives of a good bribe. This does not bode well for her future political career.

We had wanted to put the new mattress on the double bed frame (that we currently have propped against the wall in OUR room), but didn't want to get a box spring yet (the less distance they fall to the floor, the better). We wanted to use a sheet of plywood as the support, but it doesn't come wide enough. Bed slats from Ikea didn't work either. The frame really needs a boxspring. Sigh. Defeated by the soulless minions of orthodoxy! However, the girls are perfectly happy having their mattress on the floor. The first couple nights were about what we expected -- rough -- but after they both got used to the new arrangement they're sleeping really well. Miriam hasn't asked to sleep in her "little bed" in our room once since the change. Often we'll peek into their room at night and see that they've fallen asleep holding hands across the demilitarized zone. Awwwwwwwww.

About Peter

Alert readers may already have noticed the fourth baby counter above. (Go ahead, check it out, I'll wait.) After a few weeks of praying and thinking about it, we've finally decided on the name "Peter" for Pickles baby #4. Since we know that from the moment of fertilization there's a new human being, we believe that there was once a baby there with its own unique soul, even if for only a week. We want to recognize and honor that by giving our baby a name. During the early days of the pregnancy the name "Peter" was stuck in my head -- I kept thinking it over and over. And everywhere I turned I met someone with a baby boy named Peter. I asked Mr. Pickles what he thought of that name, and he seemed confused b/c we had always agreed to name our first son Joseph. I explained that it would be for another son, and that the name just kept going through my head. At the time I also remember thinking, well, if we lose this baby, maybe we can name it Peter. So maybe this was the Lord's subtle way of giving us the name for our child. We haven't decided on a middle name yet -- nothing about this baby's personality has come to me as obviously as it did with Gabriella. If something comes to us we'll let you all know.

Thanks to everyone for all your kind notes and words. They really mean a lot.

Oh Blessed Summer Rain!

Wait, what is this? Children playing... outside? In AUGUST?!


yippee!

All the damage and flooding and disaster aside, thank you, Ernesto! We've had lovely weather the last couple days -- I love having the windows open all the time! It's such a relief, and not just b/c our most recent power bill was twice what it normally is! We're getting lots of rain and wind today, which made grocery shopping a nightmare, but all the local flora are rejoicing. We'd begun to despair of the grass ever being green again. (only self-indulgent spendthrifts actually use frivolous things like lawn sprinklers out here) :)

Here's a cool pic of the storm. Looks like we're in for a good bit of rain. Huzzah! Maybe now I can actually plant something and hope that it doesn't die within the week...