Christmas Parade

Our town held its first ever Christmas parade last weekend.

Here's photos of me and the rest of the lead singers and dancers from the Christmas show as we are getting ready for the parade to begin.

(That's me second from left.)


(I'm all the way on the left in this photo.)

The entire time we were on the float we sang and danced one of our numbers from the Christmas show. The song had kind of a western flair about going on a sleigh ride. Ten people dancing on a hay wagon was challenging; not a lot of room to be swung by your partner. I'm not complaining though. The dancing kept our toes from completely freezing off our feet.

Tim pulled our float with his truck; Logan was his co-pilot. Luke marched in the parade with the high school marching band.

It was great fun and I feel lucky to have been part of it.

A man and his tractor

Strange things happen to a man when a tractor comes into his life. It begins innocently enough. A simple thought: Hey, let's cover up the place where the foundation shows by building a flower bed along the side of the house.

A call to our landscaping friend causes a load of rocks to be dropped off. Building commences. Our great nephew, Cory, is visiting and he thinks riding with Tim on the tractor hauling real live rocks is as good as life gets.


A wall takes shape.


Logan is a good worker and a good guy to little kids.

You have a tractor, therefore the work is not unbearable; so even while this wall is being built your eye begins to wander. You think, we could finally tear out those ugly bushes in front and do something about that perpetual bare spot by the red maple. Besides, there are always enough rocks left over from one wall to get you started on the next wall; before you use the last rock you place another call to your landscaper friend and say, hey, when you get over this way, and several days later there are more rocks and you finish one area but have enough rocks left over to make you think you can do another area and just before you use the last rock you make another call...

The next thing you know you've used your tractor to pull out those ugly bushes at the front of the house and you've found the coolest ever stepping stones for a front walkway...

And your tractor hauls in the sand which makes the stepping stones lay perfectly.

Miracle of miracles, you exhaust the manure pile filling up the new beds. Then piles of mulch appear in the driveway and a week's worth of evenings are spent in the hauling of mulch...

...and the spreading of mulch with Trixie for quiet and pleasant company.

Bushes and flowers get planted one bed at a time. Things grow and bloom; the flit and buzz and flutter of bees, hummingbirds and butterflies are hearty accolades for this thing you have wrought.

The cat lolls in splendor and thinks: All this for me / As well it should be.

You hose down your sweaty tractor and tuck it into the barn for a rest. Yourself gets propped up on the deck from whence you can survey your work, drink your ice water, and make plans for next summer.

I smile a wifely smile to myself and think, I should have bought you a tractor a long time ago.

Eventful week

School started Wednesday so herein are posted the obligatory First Day of School photos:

Luke, now a senior


The Snoginator begins eighth grade.


No parents needed; Luke's driving to school now.

Also last week, Luke and three friends sang the National Anthem at a Dayton Dragons game.


Grandma Rose and Poppy were in the ball park, of course.


The Dragon's mascot, Heater, joined the singers for a photo.


On Friday, Luke came home from school bearing a packet from the National Merit Scholar folks that notified him he was a National Merit Scholar semi-finalist. Very exciting. Then Friday evening was the first high school football game so Luke and the marching band had their first performance.

All in all, it was an eventful, fun week.

Dog Days

The dog days of August roll on.

And school starts waaayyyy too soon.

Time, why you punish me?

Burning question 2:

How old do I have to be before my mom quits calling to tell me a storm is headed my way? I'm forty-six years old, for crying out loud! And every time it storms here, my mom, who has seen the report on the weather channel, calls to warn me.

Someday rescuers will find my cold carcass, cell phone locked in my hand. They will pry the phone out of my stiff fingers only to hear my mother giving me the details on the direction and duration of the storm and advising me of the precautions I should take for safety.

Moms.

(Any family reading this better not breathe a word of this to my mommy. I might make fun of this in public, but secretly, her calling makes me feel beloved. As a matter of fact, I wish everyone, no matter how old, had someone who called when a storm was approaching.)

The Wilds

Today Logan and I visited Ohio's best kept secret, The Wilds. Oh my gosh, what a neat place. As soon as we got there, Logan claimed the camera so these are all his photos (except the one he is in). You'll see he had a thing for asses.

For instance, the onager, an ass from...somewhere in the Middle East. Iran? Pakistan? Anyway...


And the Przewalski's horse, an ancient horse whose likeness is often depicted in cave paintings. These had been extinct in the wild but due to conservation efforts and captive breeding programs a herd of 250 animals now grazes in their native Mongolia.


The giraffes were very cool. Two of them are basking in the shade of the trees behind Logan.


This guy was up by the road, clearing standing guard...


...over this.

Notice the baby giraffe and the baby white rhino. There were an amazing number of babies throughout the park. The guide said it was rare for the giraffe parents and the rhino parents to be so close to each other's babies but they were sharing the available shade. The sun was merciless.

When I first spotted the Grevy's zebras, I gasped out loud at how perfect they were. Those stripes, that color scheme, their expressions and outrageous stuffed-animal-looking ears. They were breathtaking.


This was the only place where we didn't see any babies. They think the stud zebra is shooting blanks so they're in the process of swapping him for another stud.

They are perfect.

The bison herd tried to keep cool in the 95 degree weather. They were panting from the heat.

Our vehicle was an open-air safari bus with a canopy overhead. It was breezy and amazingly dust free even on the gravel roadway. Ours was driven by a guide who clearly had been around the place awhile. She was a good talker who liked what she was talking about.

The pin-up girls.


If you find yourself near southeast Ohio (Zanesville area) don't miss The Wilds. Even when it's hot, it's very very cool.

Snoggy turns 14

Happy Birthday to my baby Logan.

He turned fourteen yesterday. For his birthday, he went to King's Island with his friend Ryan, came home to his favorite dinner - meatloaf, baked mac and cheese, and peas - went golfing with Tim, then had four friends over to play Dungeons and Dragons all night long.

His gifts reflected the fact that golf is his latest passion.

New golf shoes.


All decked out and practicing his swing.


He might stink up the course with his playing but he sure looks good.

In case you don't know, Snoggy stands for "very beloved son."

Free Birds

So Luke got his driver's license today.

And he drove himself to marching band practice tonight.


Although he was stuck with Logan, who had plans to go to a friend's house. When it was time to go, Tim and I followed them out the driveway with our cameras.


Sometimes I feel sorry for our boys having us as parents. We are so...parental.

To freak us out, Luke goosed the gas as they headed down the street. Does Logan look scared or excited?


Earlier, at the exam station, the second Luke's license came off the press he asked me if he could drive around the block of the exam station by himself. "Sure," I said and he headed out the door. I waited a nanosecond and followed. As I watched him turn right out of the parking lot I had a teary-eyed moment when I thought my heart would break, mostly with pride at the young man he has become. I sent blessings out to him across the parking lot, blessings and prayers and wishes that he will be careful and safe and always come home in one piece.

It has been a fun time, driving him to all his piano, band, school, clarinet, soccer, etc. all these years, talking and singing in the car, hanging around while he did his thing, then driving him home. But he's ready to take off on his own life and I'm ready to have my life back. I'm ready to get serious about this horse stuff.

We both feel like free birds.

Senior photo preview

Luke had his senior pictures taken on Thursday. Here's a sneak preview:

The obligatory suit-wearing head shot.


The musician and his instrument.


Using the beautiful piano at the Presbyterian church; getting the backdrop just so.


Getting the lighting just so.


Bond. Luke Bond.

The grins on their faces are because I had to eat crow over not wanting to spring the extra moolah for black and white photos. What was I thinking? Black and white piano, black and white tux. Duh. Get the black and white photos. Our terrific photographer took B&W anyway, despite my lack of coughing up the dough, and yeah, we saw 'em on the screen; they're beautiful.

I'm eating my crow pie and thinking of my lovely young man and his perfect photo. It's all good.

Brain Dead Blogger

I don't know what's wrong with me but I've ruled out depression and I'm trying to decide between onset of menopause or onset of Alzheimers'. I'm hoping it's menopause because that passes. My major symptom is brain-deadedness. I'm also trying to figure out what it means that the slowing down of my estrogen production is leaving me brain-dead. Anybody...anybody?

My brain is the only part of my life slowing down. The rest of my life is moving in indirect proportion to my brain, which only compounds the problem. For instance, tomorrow's schedule: Logan golf clinic, 9 to 10:15; me teach riding lesson at 10 a.m.; Luke haircut for senior photos (on Thursday) 11:30. Luke has to be back home by 12:30 to be picked up by driving school dude for two hours of driving time. Logan ortho appt. 2 p.m. Pick up new volleyball while in the big city because we have busted our other one after five weeks of play. Hurry home to get Luke to his clarinet lesson at 5 p.m.; then drop he and Logan off to help a friend with his Eagle Scout project of building a bridge at a nature center. Rush home to play in volleyball league game at 6 p.m. Feed horses. Pick up kids. Go to bed.

I'm not complaining, just reporting the facts. I love it that Luke and Logan are so involved in so many things. Their lives are full and fun and they are living passionately: Luke is passionate about piano and marching band; Logan, right now, is passionate about golf. The problem is that they are dependent on a driver to get them to these things so my things, especially this blog, have suffered.

Luke tells us several times a day how many days until he can take his driver's test. Nine days, as of today. He's not the only one counting. I thought I was dreading the day he could drive off without me but he has worn me down. Go, I say. God speed. I'm ready to be on my schedule.

Nine days....

Charlotte's Web

The local children's theatre productions took place last weekend.

Here are photos of Logan as Wilbur in Charlotte's Web.

Templeton tells Wilbur and Charlotte the wonders of the fair.


Charlotte's two final projects: The word Humble in her web and her egg sack.


Salutations! Wilbur meets Charlotte's children.


Our local children's theatre is awesome. We have planned our summer around it for the past eight or nine years and it has been one of the best things our kids have done. If you get the chance to get your kids involved in something like this, I highly recommend it. Nothin' but fun for all of us.

Wilbur was humble, terrific, and Some Pig.

Summertime and the livin' is busy

Year after year after year I look forward to summer, imagining long, sunny, lazy days sipping pina coladas on the back deck. In reality, summer arrives and we are busier than ever, especially this summer with big parties to mark big events (Queenie's graduation; Luke's birthday) which left me whipped. I've been so tired I've felt old. (Although not too tired to play hours of volleyball several evenings a week. Sand volleyball Rocks.) And I have managed to drag myself out to the barn and ride every morning before I take Logan in to rehearsal for Charlotte's Web.

I've picked 20 pounds of strawberries from my local U-pick place. The ones Logan and I didn't stuff in our mouths got frozen or canned. Today was round one of picking black raspberries; our volleyball friends polished off the first cobbler I made today so after volleyball, at 10 p.m., I whipped up another. (One of these days I'll get around to posting recipes because I've got an incredibly easy but good recipe for cobbler.)

I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver's new and wonderful book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle which chronicles her family's year of eating local. Because of her I ordered a cheesemaking kit from www.cheesemaking.com and Logan and I spent part of an afternoon heating up a gallon of milk and turning it into a pound of mozzarella cheese. That was a satisfying afternoon; cheesemaking is pure chemistry but it felt like magic.

And yesterday I made yogurt, just to see if I could. Yep, more chemistry. I don't know if I'll keep making yogurt or cheese, but it's neat to know where these things come from.

The other day I asked Tim if he knew of anyone locally who still milked cows. Yeah, of course he does, he knows everyone. "Why?" he asked. "Oh," I said, "for making cheese. So I don't have to buy a cow." He gave me The Look and made his exit.

I hope no-one from my bag company ever reads my blog. It's easy to forget I have a job, isn't it?

My sister who lives in Colorado was here for Queenie's graduation. We did blend some of those just-picked strawberries into daquiris so a bit of my fantasy summer came true.

How's your summer going?

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Luke's Birthday Party

Choosing teams for volleyball was interupted by the sound of a beeping horn.


Logan had the honor of driving Luke's big present to the party.

(The van Luke was supposed to inherit died two days before his birthday. It was quickly decided that, since we were going to get a car anyway, we might as well have it at his party.)

Luke checks out his new car while my friend and neighbor vannas for the camera.


Luke checks out his new ride.


The guys go for a drive.


Luke opens cards and presents. This one had an inordinate amount of toilet paper involved. And the ketchup on the table? A gift. Because Luke thinks ketchup is its own food group.


The cops showed up, making it officially a party. (Cars needed to be removed from the roadway.)


The obligatory Burying the Birthday Boy.


The birthday boy.


A good time was had by all.