So here's the short of it, 
Today was a good day to be back at home. 


And here's the long.

I got a good little bit of work in the garden this morning. The Cherokee Purple tomatoes are ripening. There were enough to harvest a few of them and a handful of Black Cherry. Valdis came over this afternoon and I sent a few of them home with him.

Lunch today was with Pennie, Myra, and Aunt Judy. It was a lovely visit - Aunt Judy is such a lovely person and we had a really nice lunch. Today's choice was J. Alexanders. I had a really nice salad, but I kept thinking about my lovely Purple Cherokee tomatoes sitting home on the counter and how tasty they would have made that salad!

This evening Myra and Pennie came over to the house for dinner and a great visit. It was relaxed and quiet - just the four of us. It was a nice evening.  We sliced up the Purple Cherokee! It was  so great. I'm afraid that Pennie isn't able to really enjoy them right now though.

I'm awfully tired this evening. I think I'm still catching up from the trip to Colorado. I'm going to head to bed earlier than usual tonight!

So here's the short of it, 
Home!

And here's the long.

Today - getting back into the routine of being home!

This morning I had to get up instead of sleeping in - lots get done.  I had a quick task at work, but first we  picked up Alan's Buick that had been in the shop the whole time we were gone -  then home to take Myra the convertible for she and Pennie to use while they are here - then getting that work piece done, and finally over to a nice luncheon to celebrate Mommy Anne's 94th birthday.  She looked wonderful! Myra and Pennie got there just a little after noon - coming directly from the airport where Myra picked Pennie up.

I got home and decided to take a quick nap! I sacked out until a little after 4:00!!  I was really tired. While I was gone, Alan went and picked up his new car. I didn't get a good picture, so I'm "borrowing" a picture of one just like it that's posted online for sale.  I drove it to dinner and I'm really pleased with it.  I hope Alan loves it.

So we are officially a Volvo family!  B&F Auto Sales - Spike and Rowland and the guys are the best!  Check out their website, but if you want an amazing Volvo, you'll just need to go see them and be patient.  Tell them Alan sent you!

We met Pennie and Myra at Provino's for dinner tonight. I do love some Provino's!  Now, I'm home; I'm tired; and I'm going to go to bed early! (well earlier than usual)

So here's the short of it, 
Home again after a stop off for some breathtaking beauty. 

And here's the long.

Today we travelled home and on the way to the airport we stopped at the Denver Butterfly Pavilion. 

We were absolutely captivated. There were more than 600 butterflies in the space and they were all beautiful and lots of fun to watch. Next time, we'll have to plan to be there when they release the new ones into the space - something they do every day.

The trip home was uneventful and we arrived to find everything in fine shape. It's really nice to know that we can depend on Liga to take care of the house and the animals and not worry about anything!

Tomorrow will be here early, so I'm going to try to sleep in a bit. I was just getting myself switched over to Colorado time and now we're back home!  I think it may take a day or two!

The trip was wonderful - but boy, am I ever glad to be home!

So here's the short of it, 
We had a great side trip today!

And here's the long.

This morning we started out by meeting Dan for a fairly early breakfast at Lucile's - a well known establishment in Boulder. He had to go to work and we wanted to get on the road! They specialize in Creole cousine.  I had a great dish called Eggs Jennifer - vegetarian style Eggs Benedict dish.  Alan had something that came with a biscuit.  I've never seen such a large one - and it was square!  It made quite an impression on me!

After breakfast we headed up Highway 36 for Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park.  It was a great day!


We drove up the mountain and decided to drive to Bear Lake first.  We decided on Bear Lake because it was a trip that would only take a couple of hours. The Trail Ridge Road was something we thought would be very interesting, but it would have taken 4 hours or so and then we would have had to drive back.  Someday I might like to do that (or see lots of great pictures and read a book).  Apparently the road follows a trail that's been used for a long, long time by humans in their travels. The Ute were the last known group of people to use it before the Europeans came and took over this land.

Anyway, Bear Lake was perfect for us.  This is a picture taken by Alan's cell phone camera!  It was just a stunning view. There's a short trail around the lake and we just went to the first photo spot. There was a warning that the back side of the trail is steep and uneven - two things that I still am not up to speed on! So we didn't do that.

We headed back to Estes Park and ate lunch at a nice restaurant called Poppy's that was right on the river that flows through the town.




After lunch we spent some time walking around the little tourist town of Estes Park.  We found lots of things in the cute little shops.

By a little after 3, we were ready to head down the mountain again and get ready to meet Dan for our last dinner together.  He chose Zolo, a southwestern grill.  We had a great time and are a little sad that our time with Dan is coming to an end.

Tomorrow we head back to Chattanooga.  It will be good to be back home, but this has been a great trip.

So here's the short of it, 
Today was an easy and relaxing vacation day!

And here's the long.

Today was another great day!

I had a really relaxing easy going morning to start out. Laying around in a hotel bed. A long leisurely shower. And just taking my time.

We met Dan at 11:30 for brunch at The Russian Tea House.  When we arrived there was a small wedding going on over in one of the outdoor eating areas.  It was completely closed off and there was a beautiful bride and a handsome groom and a handful of guests.  It was such a nice wedding.

We enjoyed our meal and the company and came away with three small tins of tea to bring home! Including a Puerh Tea which is a fermented tea from the western Chinese province of Yunnan.  It was a really different taste!  We were glad that Dan suggested it.

The Tea House itself was beautifully constructed.  The panels that can be seen on either side of the door are repeated all around the outside of the structure. The design is made up of many individual tiles. But they are not square tiles; they are cut using the design as a guide into irregular pieces.

After our brunch we walked around the Pearl Street Mall, a street which has been turned into a pedestrian shopping area.  Dan guided us to a great local spice store! We also found a great book store and I spent a bit of time watching two young teen girls performing on a musical instrument that looked like a very large wooden xylophone.  Here is a video I found on You Tube of a different girl playing in January.  And here is a video of the after school program where the kids learn to play! They were quite skillful and certainly enlivened the atmosphere this afternoon!

Khow Thai

We got a chance to visit Dan's house for a bit. It's the first time I've ever seen it, so I was glad to do that so that when I think about him at home, I have an image in my head.  Then this evening we went to Khow Thai restaurant.  Michael VanSant and his girlfriend Kaitlyn joined us for dinner. Michael is my cousin Jon VanSant's son. I was so glad that we got a chance to visit with them. He's just finishing up his degree in architecture and Kaitlyn will finish her degree in History and anthropology in August. They are right in that place - you know - getting ready to launch!

Maxwell Fire in Lefthand Canyon

Right now we are planning to get up early and drive up to Estes Park for the day tomorrow. But around 5 tonight a fire started up between here (our hotel) and there.  They are calling it the Maxwell Fire and it's in a place called Lefthand Canyon. We will have to wait to see if our plans need to change our plans because of that.

But we have an early start tomorrow. So for tonight - it's GoodNight.

So here's the short of it,
Last night I was somewhat off the grid - so no post.

And here's the long.

Yesterday, we drove to Colorado Springs to meet up with the Tom & Rosemary VanSant side of the family.

Our first stop was the Air Force Academy - the visitor's center and then a short, but very steep downhill walk to the Chapel.  It's a very unusual and quite beautiful structure intended to mimic the wing of the aircraft.  The large Protestant Chapel is upstairs - and there are quite a few of those stairs.  I did find that they didn't give me nearly the trouble of most other stairs.  The tread isn't as tall and the depth of the tread is also greater. It was amazing that I felt so much more steady going up and down!  Of course I still held on to the railing.  Downstairs we found a smaller and very beautiful Catholic Chapel.  Then on toward the back of the downstairs, we found the Jewish Chapel, and a Buddhist Chapel.  I found it very interesting that there was a sign upstairs in the Protestant Chapel that said "Shirt and Shoes Required" while downstairs at the entrance to the Buddhist Chapel the sign said, "All are welcome, please remove your shoes before entering".  I've been thinking about that.

Our next stop was the Garden of the Gods. Jon VanSant met us there and gave us a great tour. When we finished there, he took us by to see the old home where Tom and Rosemary lived and where he really grew up - I believe he was only six when Tom's work took them to Colorado Springs. He also gave us a great tour of  - I think he called it the lower gold road - it was mostly dirt. We stopped at Helen Hunt Falls which is right on that road. Those are all things we would never have done left to our own devices!  It was really great to have him able to meet us and give us such special attention.

Last night we spent the night with Jon and Lori at their home in the mountains in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado.  It was such a wonderful evening. Cousins, Martha and her husband John, and daughter Rosemary, Cousin Phillip, and Cousin Marcia were all there for a great evening of grilling out and visiting. We stayed up so very late visiting and enjoying all kinds of stories.

I didn't have cell service unless I went out all the way to the end of the deck, and they only have a dial up internet service,  and by the time we all quit talking Alan and I were really drooping - so no blogging last night!

So here's the short of it, 
Another great day of vacationing.

And here's the long.

Today was not a sleeping in vacation day!  We got up early to the smell of Lori's coffee and cinnamon orange buns!  After a quick breakfast we headed out to get on the Cog Rail up Pike's Peak.  Lori, Jon, and Marcia all came with us.  It was great fun to have company on the trip!  The scenery up the mountain was, of course, spectacular. And our conductor, Whitney, told lots of funny jokes on the way up.




We saw an old stone structure more than half way up  called Windy Point.  It used to house the maintenance crew - and heard that long ago a woman actually gave birth in that house!

When we got to the top several of us were suffering a bit from altitude sickness.  For me it was being a bit lightheaded, having a tiny bit of tummy wooziness, being somewhat short of breath, and being unsteady on my feet. I didn't walk around much but the altitude sickness didn't stop us from sampling the very famous Pike's Peak donuts. We got the unglazed variety. I didn't find the donut extraordinary, but maybe that was because of my altitude sickness.  Lori and Marcia kept reminding me to breath in my nose and out my mouth and to drink lots of water. I did all that although I worried about drinking too much water because there is no restroom on the train cars!

Once we got back down, Alan and I took off to Boulder.  We arrived about 4 this afternoon and tried to relax just a bit. Daniel joined us for dinner at Happy Noodle and we had a great visit with him.  He's looking great and is enjoying his work. It was really nice to be with him.  It's only 10:30 here which is a little early for me to be heading to bed, but I'm awfully tired, so I'm heading off see if I can get some sleep in!

So here's the short of it, 
This is my first visit to Colorado, and so far I'm enjoying it!


And here's the long.

Well, so far we've done two museums, had dinner with Dan, and walked quite a bit.

We spent almost all of today at the Denver Art Museum.  I loved most all of the exhibits. I think my favorite was the blue and white china (from China) in the Asian Art section of the museum.  The first time I ever saw dishes like this was when I was just a little girl visiting my Grandma VanSant. She kept them in a china hutch that I now have.  A couple of the pieces on display were very modern interpretations of the bue and white designs - I thought they were especially beautiful.

Tomorrow we'll be up early and off to Colorado Springs. I'm really excited to see some of my VanSant cousins.  Mom had an Uncle who came "out west" in the teens or twenties.  And her younger brother Tom ended up living out here and raising his family in Colorado Springs. So we have a branch of kin who have been here for 3 generations, and I'm eager to see them tomorrow.

It's awfully late here and I'm having trouble going to sleep. There are some young women next to us who are having a very good time visiting with one another, and there have been more police sirens than I remember from last night. Alan has been able to go to sleep!

I'm also having internet troubles tonight!  Darn I don't like that one little bit!

So here's the short of it,
We're here in Denver and so far having a great time. 

 And here's the long.

Today was our travel day. We left home a little after 8 this morning and caught our flight in Nashville to Denver. The flight was a little bumpy, but don't I ever love a direct flight!

On the way in to town, we stopped for a quick tour of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. I really did enjoy the parts we toured.

Prehistorical story of the evolution of plants and animals was fascinating. I kept thinking how much Mom would have loved to see all the geology and the fossils!

We also happened upon a delightful little room where there was an exhibit of carvings by a Russian artist.  He used semi-precious stones to carve scenes of everyday Russian folklore. It was so amazing - but I didn't get any good pictures - I actually thought I got three or four good shots, but tonight they aren't on my camera!  Anyway, it was amazing to see bodies of quartz, shirts of ruby and opal, and lots of different uses of a stone called jasper. It comes in so many diffferent colors, and there were lots of things carved from this beautiful stone. Belts, jackets, boots! Even some prisoners with black and white striped clothes carved from "zebra Jasper"!  I heard a young boy tell his mother "I sure am glad we found this little room".  I felt the very same way!

Daniel drove in from Boulder and joined us for dinner this evening.  We ate at a restaurant someone had recommended to him called Fruition.  It was a small but really Foodie kind of place. We all had wonderful food, and left feeling quite full - even though it was pretty late body time, before we ate!

So my first visit to Colorado is going great!  I'm looking forward to a great tomorrow.

So here's the short of it, 
Today was a doggie/kitty day!

And here's the long.

Today I was to have a meeting at the central office.  It was cancelled. Apparently there is some "shifting" going on over there.  Of course, at this point I have no idea who is shifting, where they are shifting to, and how that might impact my year! Wonder when in the world we might know about that! I'm not even letting myself get worried about that - I'm pretty low on the totem pole to find out who is shifting where - and I can't do a thing about it anyway!

Since I didn't have to go in - I was available to help Alan get the furkids to the vet.  Sophie is really not a fan of riding in the car! She has to be lifted into the car - while all 72 pounds of her is resisting! She then wants to get up in the front seat and help drive while protesting about being in the car the whole way! This time I rode in the back seat with her and held her very firmly and she did better than she ever has before.  They were both fine!  I can quit worrying about Lola not eating enough. She weighs in at a little over 8 pounds!  There for awhile, she had gotten so skinny and her food wasn't agreeing with her, but apparently she's over all that!

We got some advice on grooming Sophie. She is shedding like crazy - and my tools that I'm using to groom her are not cutting it!  So we were recommended to get a Furminator. The county sheriff's office uses it to groom the Shepherds in their K-9 program. I'll look around for one and also try to see what other options there might be.




Sophie has started on a new medicine. It's called Trifexis.  It is an oral medication which will take care of her fleas as well as intestinal parasites and heartworms. I'm really glad that we don't have to put the frontline on her any more. I didn't like having that stuff on her fur.

She seemed to tolerate the pill pretty well. We were supposed to monitor her very carefully for an hour after we administered it to assure that she didn't vomit. She also had to take it on a full stomach. All that went just fine.

So here's the short of it, 
Father's Day...

And here's the long.

I consider it to be my great fortune that Gene Howard was my father.

So here's the short of it, 
Playing house - cleaning the laundry room!

And here's the long.

I had a good day. I tackled the laundry room and got everything done except for the floor!  What a great feeling. The blinds were so yucky. I'm glad to have gotten them all cleaned up!

I remember when I was younger, I seemed to have the energy to come home from school and spend an hour or two working on the house and I didn't seem to get so far behind. Well, not all over the house anyway. I just don't seem to have that kind of energy these days!  So I'm taking advantage of some of these summer days to get some cleaning done. Seems like in those days before I worked summers, I used to do that sometimes.

Mom seems to be feeling a bit better this evening. I stopped in to see her for awhile this evening as she was having her dinner. She really looked a lot less tired! She's stayed pretty close to home all week, but this afternoon she got out and made a WalMart trip. And she's planning to go to lunch with the church "Lunch Bunch" group tomorrow!

So here's the short of it, 
The Hand...

And here's the long.

So every once in awhile it startles me.  Most of the time I don't pay it any mind.  But sometime in a sleepy morning when I'm pouring my coffee, or at dusk when I'm finishing up something in the kitchen, I catch my breath!  This is the view right outside my kitchen window.

So for years, I'd see this hand around Poppy's house or car. (Poppy - Izzy - my Father-in-Law) It's a plastic hand and for years it had a sleeve on it. It might be sticking out of Poppy's trunk, or in the back of the truck. Somehow we ended up with it. It's made a few appearances around here as well, but I haven't seen it in a good while. When the storms came through it made it's appearance again. It must have been in the damaged storage building!

The sleeve is now missing, but it's found a new home.  I'll have to say the first sleepy morning I came into the kitchen and saw it I had quite a start! And then a chuckle. I imagine that Poppy got quite a chuckle that morning too.

And even though I know it's there - there are those times.

So here's the short of it, 
Today was a lovely day.

 And here's the long.

Mom is doing lots better, but she's still seems like she's tired and feeling under the weather. When I stopped in to see her this morning she just had that look. She was supposed to go this morning and help at Bible School, but she made a pretty good choice in my opinion and decided to stay at home.

I went to the office for a bit - I got lots of organizing done!  I never have time to do that in the school year. I need another day or two to get some more of that done!

My tomato plants really loved the rain we had yesterday. But we've had more big wind this spring/summer than I ever remember before. I was trying to get a good walk with Sophie in before the storm hit yesterday - I had her on leash so that we could run in if the storm hit.  My neighbors were laughing at me for being out in the big wind with the dark sky glowering.  On our second trip around their was this huge crack -- and one of the trees on the far side of the circle lost a huge limb out of the top. Thank goodness we were on the other side!  Sophie's not really one of those dogs who is afraid of storms, but the storm yesterday made her a little nervous.

Tomorrow is a Friday at home!  What a nice life.

So here's the short of it, 
Haircut...

 And here's the long.

So yesterday was my first haircut in a long, long time.  My neighborhood hairdresser has since gone out of business and so I'm back with dear friend Jeannie at Mirror Image salon. They are great folks, and I'm glad to be back there.

So Dr. Schlabach told me I would likely lose all my hair. As a matter of fact Dr. Witherspoon told me after my biopsy that I had the "bad kind" and would have to have chemotherapy, "the kind that makes your hair fall out".  Hair was the least of my worries!  Well, it did fall out, and it did come back.

As it started to grow back I liked it at almost every length. I was happy to get back even an inch - because my head wasn't cold all the time any more. The curl was really interesting. My baby pictures show a little bit of soft curl, but I don't really ever remember having any curl.  In the late sixties and early seventies, I had that long straight, hippie hair - never had to worry about a curl showing up. So I've enjoyed the hair growing out and just curling up without any prompting from "product" or rollers, or heated curling irons.

I went to see Jeannie a few weeks ago - we decided not to even cut it then. But by this past weekend I was ready - and got myself on the book.  I had no idea how I wanted to have it cut. I've been wearing it really short for many years - and I wouldn't mind going really short again. I sure did want it off my neck!  Jeannie reminded me that we can always take off more, but that you can't put it back on when it's been cut.

Now one of the things that's been very interesting is that it's been all the same length. I liked that for awhile. As a matter of fact at about 3 inches, I thought about buying one of those "flowbee" haircutting devices that they sold in the 70's or 80's.  So what could/should I do about this hair.  I decided to just let Jeannie do whatever she wanted to. She decided that I would enjoy keeping some of my curl and so she cut off the back and just trimmed the thin ends around my face. I ended up with something kind of like an old pageboy cut. It's fine for now.  When the kids wanted to do crazy things with their hair, Alan and I always said to one another - it's just hair.

I stopped by to see Mom over the weekend when Aunt Frances and Jonathan were there. She wanted me to be sure and "save my curls". I brought an envelope of curls and gave them to Mom.  It seems appropriate - she has an envelope somewhere in the house of my first baby curl.

So here's the short of it,
Mom's home and doing OK. 

 And here's the long.

We got home about 1:00 last night and I just spent the night with Mom. Her sister, my Aunt Joyce, drove down from Knoxville this afternoon and is spending the night with her.  Mom was happy to see her.

Mom's spent most of the day just kind of lying around - oh she did cook lunch for Joyce - including harvesting one of her tomatoes to make a fried green tomato! When they came up for dinner, Mom looked really tired. She keeps saying she feels "washed out".  Her cheeks were really flushed and she just looked pretty ready for bed. We checked her temperature and even though she wouldn't quit talking the whole time the thermometer was in her mouth, it showed up close to 100.  Joyce promised to take her home and put her to bed.  I'm glad she will be there to keep an eye on her tonight.

I've been tired today too. But not tired enough to sleep. I am going to try to get to bed early tonight though.

By the way - I got my hair cut today. I've had the appointment for awhile or I might not have gone - but I'll try to write about it tomorrow.  First haircut since the day I shaved it off!

So here's the short of it,
I'm at the Emergency Room with Mom.

And here's the long.

Mom called about 9:00 o'clock. She said she needed me to come down because she was shaking. When I got to the house she asked me to call 911! Those of you who know Emily know that request is highly unusual.

They arrived very shortly and loaded Mom up in the ambulance. She was shaking really hard and uncontrollably. The good thing about going in the ambulance is that they put her in a room right away. No waiting in the lobby of the ER. Although they did tell us that both Memorial and Erlanger were extremely busy and we'd probably be all night if we chose to go there. We opted for Parkridge.

Chest XRays, blood work, and urine sample - she has a really bad urinary tract infection and her potassium is low. They've started her on an IV with an antibiotic and will let her go home when it's done. I'm planning to just stay there tonight.

Say a prayer. She's tired and she's a bit confused- I remember learning how bad these urinary infections can be as you get older when Dad had one. I think all will be well - she's a trooper.

So here's the short of it,
It was good to have Valdis and Kalie back in town.

 And here's the long.

Wow - a three day weekend and I don't even have to get up and go in to work tomorrow unless I just want to! Summer time. 


Valdis and Kalie are back from their trip to the beach with her family. They had a front tire blow out on the way down - thank goodness Kalie was able to manage it.  They pulled over to change the tire, and a gentleman stopped and helped them out! Valdis says he'll be paying that forward.  They got back home without any problems and joined us for dinner tonight. Liga was working, but she came home on her dinner break and was able to have dinner with us. 


Aunt Frances and cousin Jonathan came by Mom's this evening. They took Willim over to Duke where he will be studying cryptoghphy for the next couple of weeks.  Then they drove over to Chattanooga so Jon could work with Mom on her taxes.  Alan and I walked down for a short visit after dinner was over here. It was nice to get in a visit 
even though it was a short one. 


I wonder if I'll be able to sleep in tomorrow. 

So here's the short of it, 
Thanks Mom!

 And here's the long.

Yesterday when Mom and I were out, she found something that she wanted to buy for me. I think sometime several years ago I said something about wanting a Baker's Rack.  I've looked for one off and on, but never made it a very high priority.  When we were at Tuesday Morning there was a Baker's Rack. Mom wanted to get it for me, so I have a very early birthday present.

I put it in the kitchen on the one empty wall.  I think it looks pretty nice.
Thanks Mom.

The Baker's Rack inspired me and so I've worked on straightening and organizing the kitchen for most of the day. I should get inspired more often!

So here's the short of it,
I had a great Mom day.

And here's the long.

I had a nice afternoon with Mom today!

I woke up as though I were going to work this morning. I made myself go back to bed for awhile.  I did get some gardening time in before it got too hot. I've got a Cherokee Purple coming on that's almost as big as my fist! It's pretty tempting to have fried green tomatoes for dinner, but I think I'll hold out for that one to ripen up.

I picked up Mom and we went to Tuesday Morning to see what kind of bargains we could find. Then we had lunch together. She really liked to go to Red Lobster - so that's where we went! Then we went to Mia Cucina because she had a good coupon she wanted to use, and then to Jo-Ann fabric so that she could get some fabric for a project she was working on.

I left home to go to college the fall that I would turn 18, and I never really went back home after that. So we lived pretty far from one another until Mom and Dad moved to Chattanooga.  I'm really glad she just lives down the street. It's nice to be able to spend the afternoon together.

So here's the short of it, 
Vacation begins!

 And here's the long.

Today was my last day of contract work until mid July! I do still have a couple of days of things I've agreed to do - probably for comp time. But I love that comp time!

Tomorrow I don't have to get up with the alarm. I don't have to get dressed. And I don't have to get anything done!  I'm going to get up and work in the garden if I get up before it gets too hot. I've got three or four other things planned as well - but mostly I have planned that I don't have anything at all that I have to do! Well, I do have to walk the dog.

Let's see how late I can sleep in...

So here's the short of it,
Work, work, work is on my mind

And here's the long.

Tomorrow is my last "regular" work day until I go back in the middle of July.  I have a few "special" tasks that are paid by contract rather than my regular work time. I have a list waiting on my desk so I can work through stuff. Our team that's been working on the website(s) we'll be rolling out this fall has done some terrific work! I'm really excited about that piece of what we've been doing.

I am trying not to get ahead of myself and think about the time I'll have of not working, but I'm finding my thoughts going thee.

Next week, two of my colleagues and I had been approached by UTC to teach a class during the summer session. We got word today that the class will probably not make because of how few people are registered. I really would like the class to go, but I really could be OK with not having responsibilities next week!

I was up really early this morning - up on the top of the mountain for a 7:30 meeting - so I'm a little tired.  I'm going to turn in and get some sleep!

So here's the short of it,
Mom's Gardening is coming right along.

 And here's the long.

Mom's got a great garden going in the back yard. She had to fence it in to keep Hershey from destroying all the plants with her playing and digging.

I stopped by the other day and she gave me a good garden tour. I was able to get a few pictures.

Here's the garden.

Here's an eggplant. It will be ready to harvest pretty soon.

Cucumber.

Mom and her harvested cucumber!

D-Day Anniversary

So here's the short of it,
The anniversary of D-Day is coming to an end. 

And here's the long.

By the end of D-Day, some 23,000 troops and 1,700 vehicles had safely landed at UTAH Beach and of the men that came ashore there were only about 200 recorded casualties. This picture is an arial view of the supplies streaming ashore after the beaches had been secured! 


Gene Howard and the other men of the transportation units unloaded troops, tanks, trucks, jeeps, gas, ammunition, food, and all the other supplies necessary to support the invasion and successful defeat of the German Army at Normandy and into and across France. 


Only in his later years did we learn about the close calls -The bombs falling all around the ships they were unloading - and actually landing and sinking two that were right next to them. Becoming lost in the fog and drifting dangerously close to the German controlled territory. Or the plane that strafed the beach just after they had gone ashore, missing the soldiers by only inches. Or the late night call to help the graves registration detail clean up the beach from those who had given their lives that day on that bloody beach. 


I think of Dad in one way or another every single day - often many times. But on June 6th, I will always think of that young man - just a kid really, along with lots of other kids - who really and truly saved the world. 


There's one other picture like this one - an arial view of the beach head operation at Utah Beach.  I always like to think that even though I can't see him, Dad is somewhere in those pictures. 


Here are a couple of links for those who might be interested in the Utah Beach operaton!


Utah Beach Battlefield Tour


The Battle of Normandy - Utah Beach

So here's the short of it,
Sticking to the plan...

And here's the long.

One of my teacher colleagues made a post on Facebook today saying that she loved this time because it doesn't really matter to her if it's a weekend or a weekday!  I've still got a week of work to go.  I'm looking foward to some time of not mattering.

Tonight matters though. I've got another whole week of work. But this week begins the long days and 4 day work weeks. I only have four more days to work though, so I don't have to do the long work days. I am ever so grateful. The long days are so draining!  Tomorrow I have lots to get done, and a plan. I hope I can stick with it!

So here's the short of it,
Tomato, Tomahto.... whatever you say, they are going to be delicious!

 And here's the long.

Today I got another row of tomatoes in!  The storms blew away most of the plant starts I still had in the little greenhouse.  Mom found me a couple of TFI's; I had a couple more Cherokee Purple; Mom gave me a start from a little yellow pear tomato that volunteered at her house last summer; and I found a little volunteer this afternoon when I was working on putting in that row, so I just planted it too! I've never planted a volunteer before - Mom (and Dad when he was alive) always enjoyed having a volunteer and seeing what it turned into.

I still have some Kumatos to get into the ground. I don't know what will come of them. You can't buy seed and they are only allowed to be grown by people certified by the Kumato people.  Most of the ones I seen appear to be grown in greenhouses in Canada. There's a big internet debate about them.  Some  people say they are hybrid tomatoes which means I won't get a reliable product. Others say no they are like a lot of the tomatoes that have been grown in Europe for a long time. I've read several different stories about how they came to be. I'm going to get a couple planted and give some to others who may want to grow them, and then we'll see what happens.

So here's the short of it,
Baby birds are all over the back yard.

 And here's the long.

I don't ever remember this many baby birds in the yard before - especially the back yard. I wonder if the storm damage is at the heart of this. There were so many trees knocked over - I'm thinking that the babies fledged and practiced in the trees. Now so many of them are gone!  They are practicing going from fence to fence to wires. Lola brought one in today! I managed to net it and put it back over our temporary fence in the back. It very quickly took flight up to the fence at the back. One of the little baby Robins from our next was in the garden. Sophie was really interested in it - she didn't try to bite it, but she kept nosing at it and scared it!

I'm eager for a couple of days off. I got a big chunk of work done today. And I'm feeling pretty good about that. I've got a plan in place for next year now - see if we can prevent some of the problems we've encountered this spring.

In the meantime, I'm really glad to have a couple of days off. AND I'm excited to only have one more week to work.

So here's the short of it, 
Keeping on.....

And here's the long.

What fun it's been to remember what was happening 17 years ago. I think that I'll work on getting that whole first week documented and maybe share some more of it along the way.

This week at work has had some ups and downs. We've had a group of teachers working on our internal website for teachers and students that will launch next fall, and that's been a good experience. I work with some amazing teachers! On the other hand, we are still confronted with the horrible consequences of the budget crisis and that's no fun at all.  I've got the whole day planned out for tomorrow though and it should be a good day. It will be pretty quiet and I should be able to get a big chunk of work done.

My young friend at the office who is also a cancer survivor will be beginning big chemotherapy tomorrow.  Her cancer is back in a couple of places.  She'll be taking some big drugs this time around. I'm going to try to carve out about an hour to head over to Schlabach's infusion center and sit with her for a bit. We love to compare notes about how much we love him as a doctor.

So if you are the praying kind, please put Amy on your prayer list.

So here's the short of it, 
Today - 17 years ago.

 And here's the long.

Alan and I adopted Liga and Valdis in the early days of international adoptions in Latvia. Our local agency began the process as soon as the country opened to international adoption - they went in November of 1993 to identify available children. We were the second family from that agency to complete an adoption. In those days, the adoption actually happened before the family arrived in country. The facilitator had our power of attorney and completed the process.  That has changed significantly now. Families are now required to spend 6 weeks with their matched children before the courts will even consider adoption.

Hotel Riga 

We got the kids on Monday, May 31st. It was Memorial Day. Our facilitator planned for us to go from the orphanage directly to the Embassy to process the kids and be ready for our trip to Warsaw where we would get the appropriate entry papers to bring the children into the United States.  We arrived at the Lativan Embassy and it was closed for Memorial Day! Even though our facilitator didn't know about Memorial Day, we felt pretty silly for not thinking about it.  We returned to the hotel and spent the evening there. The kids loved the  wide hallways, the steps, and of course the restaurant. There was a buffet that evening.  Valdis just kept on eating. Alan and I had a conversation about whether or not we should stop him because we were afraid he would make himself sick.  We decided that we would just let him eat.  He did NOT get sick! On the other hand, Liga was still recovering from a pretty serious illness, and didn't have much of an appetite at all. Our pediatrician had given us an antibiotic to start her on the day we got her, but would be some time before her appetite picked up.

This is a picture of the entryway at Hotel Riga.  This is a very new remodeling effort and when we were there it was not nearly this elegant. But oh it was so much fun. The kids loved going up and down the steps - and the entrance was an automatic sliding glass door. That was another activity that was great fun - running up to make the door slide open. It was obvious that the employees of the hotel thought we should be keeping the kids under much better control.  Occasionally one of them would speak sternly to the children. They would immediately become very sedate until they got around the corner or the employee got out of sight. Of course neither Alan nor I had any idea what they were telling the children.  My fifty memorized words did not include scolding!

We didn't have hot water at the Hotel Riga - when we checked in on Sunday, they told us that there would be no hot water until Wednesday! So tub baths would have to wait. The kids were in twin beds - Alan and I were sharing a pull out sofa. None of us were really able to settle down very easily, but we didn't have the day of leisure we were expecting. We had to get to the Embassy and get the kids paperwork approved so that we could leave on Wednesday.

On June 1st, we headed over to the Latvian Embassy - there was something wrong with the paper work and we had to go back to court!

We loaded back into the car and drove to the courts location. Victor looked at me with the children in the back seat and said "you stay".  He and Alan disappeared into the building while I waited with two children that didn't speak any English!  They jabbered with one another and once in awhile looked at me and said something that sounded like "corjannie". Within an hour, Alan was back at the car telling me to get the children and come into the court. The judge had told them that she was leaving on vacation, and that this was a very complicated problem. She would be back in two weeks, and she would be able to take care of it then.  That's when Alan came to the car and brought the children in and had me hold one of them and he lifted up the other so that she could see them over the high bar that separated us from her. She looked at them, and she and Victor spoke in Latvian for a bit. She told us to come back in two hours and she would have our necessary paperwork ready.

We spent two hours in a park in the center of the city wiling away the time. A fellow was playing music and the kids danced; we found some art displays; and a young man told us that "corjannie" meant chewing gum! When we returned, our paperwork had been changed and we were set to get cleared at the embassy.  On our return to the embassy, the clerk said that there were still some inconsistencies, but she thought that it would pass.  So she gave us our packets and sent us on our way.

We had an afternoon shopping for some memorabilia and then had another great dinner at the hotel letting Valdis eat as much as he wanted and encouraging Liga to get some protein.

........................