Comings and Goings

Sam has been in Germany for a couple of weeks. He gets home late tonight. While he has been able to speak to his siblings on "WhatsApp" and video chat with them, I have had very little communications with him. I am sure it will be a fun ride back from Tulsa, unless he is just too tired to tell us about it.

Daniel and Sam

In the morning, Daniel is headed to West Texas. He has the latest step in the SAFD journey to handle on Monday: The Polygraph.  I had failed to count it as a step in the hiring process, thinking all that remained was the Face to Face interview. The interview will be conducted SOON, pending the outcome of the polygraph. The SAFD hire/ start Date will be Dec. 18. That means, in another month our nest could be down another birdy.
This is a turbulent time for me! Yeah. Get over it... the twins are already 22 years old.
So far, Tom and I have no solid Thanksgiving plans. We are having to  keep our options open, based on events in other people's lives. I am thinking we may be going to Ohio.
We did just get back from Ohio this past Sunday.
There are many things going on in the lives of Mr C's family. His Mom can use prayers, as she is having pain in her hip and may need surgery. This would necessitate someone staying with her as she recovers... actually BEING with her daily. At the moment, all the available family members are working, or have obligations that preclude their being there more than a day or two at a time. I am the logical person to be there.
Mr C and the twins can handle the house here, and our wee amount of critters without me. Garden season is past. We are just trying to take small steps at a time right now, to be sure of our direction.

Lower Falls at Old Man's Cave, Hocking  Hills State Park, Ohio

Tommy is planning a Thanksgiving dinner in Dallas, with friends an a couple of siblings. My folks (Mom and Ralph, Dad and Kathie) are getting together. Ben and Paula are going to Paula's folks, I think. We ought to know in another week or so about whether we are going to Ohio or not. But for the moment, I am just counting us out everywhere.
We had a good visit with Arlene and with Bob. We got to see Joyce for a short while on Saturday, and even spend an hour or so with Luke, and with Eric. Luke's daughter Leigha gave me a birthday card!

It would be nice to take a trip sometime, to be able to stop and actually SEE the sights along the way. I have been by the St. Louis Arch probably more than 30 times. I have never got to stop and see it, though I think most of my kids have at one time or another. We are always so focused on the destination that we seldom stop to enjoy the journey. (Heck, we hardly even stop to potty!) I'd like to see the Creation Museum at Glenrose, Texas. The Ark Encounter in Kentucky. Someday, the Grand Canyon.

Our seasons are changing. (I mean that both naturally and metaphorically.) The trees here have been going quickly from green, to brilliant colors, to raining their leaves down in a smothering cover on the ground.  So far, we haven't had a frost, and a few plants are hurrying to ripen their last fruits. Our own circumstances are changing, and we will have to adjust to the new landscapes we encounter.
Thanks for reading. May your day be blessed.

Mother's Day, 2011

The card envelope from Dan and Sam

Flowers from Bill

Flowers from Dan and Sam

Drawings of my kids as anthropomorphics, by Sam. his caption says, "Well its mothers day and this is your mothers day gift... here you go" He is currently coloring it for me.

My Mom also came up and spent Mother's day with me. She is working with her cousin Ruth at The Sugar Shack in Russellville. All of my kids who were able to gave me a call on Mother's Day. (A couple were kind of late, but hey, at least I did hear from them!)

Happy Hiking!

Tommy and Sam

Dan, Tommy, Sam, and Ben on our recent hike.

Daniel and Ben

"Stupid Spelling Words Make Stupid Poetry"

Here are Daniel and Sam's Spelling Word Poems... plus one of my own I did in college:

He Drove Home With A Broken Arm

by Sam

He smoked the stone

til he broke his bone

Then drove home.

The Stupid Poem

by Dan

He drove home

with a stove

that smoked

and his dog

had a bone

of stone.

Stone

by Tammy (1979)

Stone Dead

Stone Cold

Stone Dawn

We're Alone

Stone Sober.

Hey, my college teacher gave me an "A" on my poem. It was a five minute 'exercise' using an assigned word. So I told the twins they each get an "A" on their poems... PLUS get them published on the internet!

Come to think of it- the teacher who gave me the "A" was the one who told me I had better to look at some other profession- I couldn't write worth $***

Schuyler Etheridge... she killed many people's hopes of becoming writers. As a college teacher, she was more critic than mentor. After her course, I didn't write for ten years.