Today we went to a pick-your-own farm and came home with 12 pounds of blueberries, 8 pounds of tart cherries, 6 pounds of yellow plums and a couple handfuls of raspberries. ( Read more... )

I think I may have a sinus infection--my eyes are killing me and noises are really bothering me. Someone in the lane next to me had his car stereo very loud, and the thrum of the bass in my eardrums made me nauseous.  But even when I'm completely healthy I like the quiet. At the moment it is quiet here. Megan is downstairs playing Sims, her first real chance this week because we've been out doing things in the evenings. Emily and Darrell went out for Italian ices, and then are travelling on to Home Depot to get a piece of hardware to fix the toilet. The laundry is going--I'll probably have some to fold in a few minutes. But it is otherwise quite still.

Stillness is the spiritual discipline I have the most trouble with. It's hard for me to sit and meditate or pray, because my mind is always trying to do six hundred things; even my body has a hard time with stillness, foot tapping or fingers fidgeting. Even now, when I have the perfect opportunity to take ten minutes for stillness, I find myself here at the computer: Oh, I need to post! I can always find something to do to fill my days. I keep my quietness for myself, and don't share with God. Le sigh. Well, I do keep trying.

It's Independence Day, which in our neck of the woods means a million tourists and fireworks, fireworks, fireworks. ( Read more... )

I am officially too old for overnight flights, I fear. Darrell and the girls managed precious little sleep on the plane, and I couldn't get any at all. So our first day in England was spent staggering around in a zombie fugue state. ( Read more... )

I read FMA with Emily hanging over my shoulder, so we could both enjoy the girl power. Go, women!( Read more... )

Arakawa is always spot-on with what makes her characters tick. It is really, really impressive.

In other news, I spent the morning making yet more changes to the ethics article, but now it's done! Well, nearly done. I'm still waiting for about a dozen people to review and approve their quotes. Le sigh. When I handed it to my designer, she blanched and said, "It's certainly long." It is, unfortunately. Going to make it awfully hard to come up with any kind of attractive graphic presentation. But there's no help for it--this is a serious subject, so it ought to be treated seriously. I just worry that if it is too long no one is going to read it, negating the point of writing the thing in the first place.

In other, other news...I don't have to go back to work till July 6! Woo hoo!

Why yes, it is Sunday. What a crazy week it has been.

Last Sunday we attended a party, and my mother-in-law arrived. Monday Darrell and Megan left for a school trip, and my father-in-law arrived. Yes, you read that correctly: in-laws, present; husband, absent. They were here for the girl's choir concert on Tuesday, which I wish you could have heard, because they sounded amazing. Darrell didn't get to hear it either. He and Megan returned in time for the concert, but Darrell had to immediately fly out on a business trip. We've had terrific thunderstorms every night this week and he sat in the airport for six hours on Tuesday night waiting to take off. Wednesday morning, before breakfast, I did the airport run with my in-laws, then took the girls to school, then left work an hour early to purchase everything I would need for the middle school graduation reception on Thursday, which I agreed to host because the head of school caught me in a moment of weakness. Darrell is going to make me memorize a script of how to say no when people surprise me with requests. The reception went well, though I was told to expect 40, prepared for 60, and was surprised to see almost 90 people show up. Darrell had to rush out and rescue me with more plates and cutlery. Friday was the last day of school, complete with obligatory class performances, which were kind of awful but delivered with heartfelt enthusiasm. I was planning to spend the afternoon at home recuperating, but the dean needed to see me in his office right away. (Zoiks!) It was about the ethics article, of course. Version 1 was too wishy-washy, my dean thought. Version 2 was liable to offend people, he worried. I'm on Version 3, and a whole bunch of other people are looking at it this weekend, and by golly whatever I have finished on Monday afternoon is what we're going to use, because I'm not coming in on Tuesday. I need to pack for vacation.

Emily got back yesterday afternoon from backpacking 17 miles on the Appalachian Trail, most of it in rain that ranged from light to torrential downpour. She was so tired that when I walked in the house and asked if she'd had a warm bath yet, she burst into tears. Poor little daughter. But she says they had fun, despite the sopping wet gear and the six miles uphill and the total lack of a campfire. I'm proud to say that hers was one of only two tents that didn't collect several inches of water during the night. My girl knows how to set up a tent properly! It was such an ambitious class trip--two days of hiking followed by a morning of rafting...Emily went to bed at 7:30 last night and I'll be surprised if she can walk today. Darrell has backpacked on the AT, but I don't do backpacking. I like camping, but only in places where I have access to a toilet and shower. Darrell says that for his midlife crisis he's going to take six months off work and hike the whole trail, from Georgia all the way up to Maine. I will pack him some nice treats and see him when he gets home. :-)

I don't think I can possibly overstate the extent to which I am directionally challenged. Today I had an interview in Alexandria, VA, across the Potomac. I had at my disposal Google maps, directions and the navigation system in the Prius. And yet...somehow...I managed to navigate myself into one of the nastiest parts of DC, instead of driving around it as I had intended. It's right around where I go (with Darrell) to buy wholesale Italian groceries from time to time. You know that feeling when you're driving in an area you don't know and suddenly there's something you recognize, and you feel this deep sense of relief: Ah, I know where I am! Today I had the opposite of that feeling--not the dismay of recognizing that you are lost, but the dreadful realization that you know where you are and don't want to be there. Oh well. I got to the interview more or less on time, and I managed to get home despite rush hour traffic and thunderstorms and construction, and I am so so glad I don't have to go out again tonight.

Layoffs today. Like many, I had hoped that our mass furloughs would be enough to keep everyone employed. I feel sad.

Last night we had terrific thunderstorms, real window-rattlers. In the olden days I would have had screaming, hysterical children to comfort, but these days they can comfort themselves. Mostly. Emily was woken by one of the more violent thunderclaps last night and was sufficiently unsettled to leave a note on my bedroom door asking if I would make her biscuits for breakfast. I did, of course--plain and chocolate chip. Nothing like a biscuit to make a thunderstorm irrelevant.

Both my grandfathers served in the Army during World War II.

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Ooh, ooh, ooh, guess what?!? The things we had to do tomorrow GOT CANCELLED!! Do you know what that means? It means a Saturday with no plans, that's what it means! I can go for a bike ride in the morning and still have time to finish the laundry and go grocery shopping, and then spend Sunday afternoon trying to find raincoats for the girls and returning the mail-order shoes that don't fit (man, was that ever a bad idea. Emily and Megan have essentially the same size feet at the moment--slightly too large for a woman's 7 to fit comfortably, but a woman's 7.5 falls off their feet. Gah. Guess it's crocs again, because it doesn't matter what size they are).

It's been beautiful the last few days, mild and clear and dry. Everything around us is soaking in sunshine and bursting into bloom. Today I cut pink and red roses, pink peonies, and white and peach-colored irises for the house. I love having flowers again.