Friday, September 25, 2009

This and that


John called me a few nights ago on his way home from work and said "Go look at the sky and take a photo." So I did :) A lot of it was partially hidden by trees from my vantage point but it still looked pretty.
We received the proof copies of edition 2 of John's book. Looks good. Now we have to find something else for him to do to keep him out of mischief. I saw an interesting magazine about wood carving which I may plonk down on his lap :)
I am now officially the treasurer for the high school PTSO and I made sure we did not leave our school meeting without the rest of the officers in place.
Juliet and Elisabeth are settled into school. Juliet now has an internship which she is pleased about. She had to add another class to her workload which puts her up to 17 hours. Elisabeth is still trying to find a job. Her scholarship issues were resolved thank goodness.
Kris and Nik are enjoying high school and their progress reports are looking good thus far. Nik is now learning bowling with the school group. We still have to find out about a club for Kris. They have to participate in at least one every year. It's the high school's 50th birthday this year so plans are underway far a black tie gala in April.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

An interesting encounter or two

The weather is starting to cool down so our mornings are getting damp and brisk. The afternoons are still warm which is almost tempting me to take up the gentle art of sunbathing :) The evenings have been cloudy. It has been nice watching the moon play hide and seek with the ever moving clouds.
We had a fabulous storm roll through early Thursday morning. The lightning lit up the sky and I had to take care not to drive off the road as I marveled at the spectacle and power.
John is busy at work and while at home is creating programs in MAC for some of his designs.
I am on the planning committee for a genealogy conference that is scheduled for November. We had our first meeting this week and it's going to be great.
Kris and Nik both had a good week at school. They seem to be settling in well. Much Spanish vocabulary being done.
Kris had to create a blog for her photography class. She is so excited about that. They are doing wide and narrow fields of focus as their current project.

Nik had an interesting encounter on Thursday afternoon.
He came up the back steps wanting to show me something. He opened up his hands and inside was ......... a Praying Mantis. Fabulous. Fairly young and oh so green. Very handsome to boot.
Then the fun began.
Mantis sensed freedom and took a giant leap. Landing on the back of Nik's neck it sent him into a leaping frenzy as he felt the insect start to crawl down his neck and under his shirt.
Kris and I tried not to laugh at the antics but to no avail.
Fortunately the Mantis took another leap and landed on Nik's back. At this point he was trying to pull his shirt off so I stepped in and told him everything was fine. Mantis disappeared before I had a chance to grab my camera. Darn.
Did you know that in some cultures it is extremely good luck to have a Praying Mantis in your garden? They started appearing in our garden a few years ago and I always love seeing them.

We now have a long weekend ahead of us with Monday being Labor Day. Today we decide if we want to stay home, visit family, visit friends or just head off somewhere. We have Mammoth Caves and the Natchez Trace on our list of options.