And we watched:

"Gaudy Night." I discovered that Netflix has a whole section of "play-it-nows", listed under British Dramas! There were Inspector Lynley, and Dorothy Sayers, and some Dickens. Sounds like a promising prospect. The only drawback was that we were using Adam's school computer, which does not have good volume. Mine is much louder, but I left it at school. Next week, I'll do better. What will we watch then? Perhaps "Strong Poison"? I love Sayers! And this Lord Peter Wimsey was very endearing :)

Tuesday night is:

Girls' night! On Tuesdays, all the guys in this family head to a neighboring town for Philip's trumpet lesson, and for the other two to play chess at their chess club. We girlies are left alone for hours -- and when those cats are away, well! Tonight we will make popcorn, curl up together on the couch, and watch another chic flic. I'll let you know what we find to watch on Netflix play-it-now.

On a blogging note, I have discovered city daily photos! What fun! People all over the world seem to have nothing better to do each day than walk around their cities, finding a special, interesting photo for that day -- and then they post it on their own city's daily photo blog. I started with a daily photo from Paris (ah, the city of love), and have added Riga, Latvia; Jackson, Mississippi (my home town during childhood); Coral Gables, FL; and Krakow, Poland (beautiful place I visited on missions trips). I'm wishing for a daily photo blog of Venice too. And Athens. I'm sure someone out there will comply :)

It's fine to log on each day, and always have "mail" from far across the world - a picture, with comments. If I lived in a more impressive place, and if I had the time to roam around my town, I'd make a contribution too.

How do you spell FUN(nel)?

Funnel Cakes! Adam made these this evening, since we longed for them at Carowinds, but they cost about $8 each. His are cheaper...and better.
They cool for only a moment. Adam's do look a little "snaky," I told him," but that's because he needs a funnel with a wider mouth. The batter was delicious, he says.
With a sprinkling of powdered sugar, they are delectable. We each got one.
Julia got the first one. Poof! It disappeared.
Meanwhile, Philip is registering online for the SAT. Argh! What an arduous process, but a necessity. He got a funnel cake as his reward for his efforts.

All over the blooming yard!

Here's what's blooming in our yard: Our overgrown (for its location) weeping cherry tree, and our lovely Canadian plum, blooming in the front yard. It's a fluffy mass. The middle photo is of my transplanted hydrangea (one of 3, I should say). I'm so thrilled that all three bushes survived the brutal transplant last November. They're in much better light now.

The real last day

This is our final day before returning to school. After this, it's all downhill until graduation! Thankfully, in 2 1/2 weeks, I'll get a 5 day weekend - yippee!! It'll be here before I know it. It's been such a nice break, but it feels too much like summer, and makes us all long to be done with the school year.

Adam got his flower seeds in the mail, and has put them all in their little thumbnails of dirt to germinate.

My blog is doing something weird when I load pictures, so I'm not going to bother today. Besides, it's so cold outside! It feels like January.

Tonight we'll be at the 5th Sunday sing at church, with other area churches. Philip is singing a short solo. You know, that young man has a very nice voice :)

More Carowinds

Here are four more pics. Julia and Anna rode a little coaster together. We spent a bit of time in the kiddie section of the park.
Beautiful horse on the carousel. This was perhaps the chilliest moment of the day.
Adam, at this moment, was very cold. He was not pleased to be sitting on a horse.
We saw little of the boys. They took off and rode body-jarring, stomach-churning coasters all day. Philip fell down some stairs, bruised himself, but saved his camera!

Today we took the kids to:

Carowinds - our nearest large amusement park. We began the day in light rain, but it cleared soon, leaving us only chilly and breezy.
Picture #2: Julia exiting her very first roller coaster, with her Daddy. It was the "Cyclone."
Picture #3: Adam's favorite ride was Scooby-Doo's Haunted Mansion. Each seat in each car is equipped with a little laser gun, with which the rider tries to shoot little lights inside the dark mansion. He liked it because he always got the highest score (by hundreds) and because it was the only slightly warm place in the park - it was indoors.
Picture #4: The Nighthawk was NOT a ride that our little group went on! We opted for non-upside-down rides :) Philip and Peter did wait 1 1/2 hours to board the Nighthawk, only to be told that it was not working correctly. Philip was miffed.
Picture #5: Here we are embarking on "Rip Roarin' Rapids" a ride that mommy wanted. Daddy was not thrilled at the possibility of getting wet. We did get wet. Oh well - all that wind dried us off again :) I like water rides, but they are chilly in 50 degrees!