What Goes Up

Must Come Down.


Adam and I both heard a loud crash last night about 11:00. I got out of bed; he came in from the patio. We thought it was downstairs but he didn't find anything amiss.

Julia showed me the mess this morning in the living room. Two shelves of books came tumbling down. It is very distressing to see a book in pain!

Also coming down today, is our pool. The menfolk turned it upside down over some lawn furniture, and it is drying out.

Philip and Peter then started work on putting the patio stones back in their places for the winter. It was hot, sticky work, with lots of bees down by the apple trees.
Lookin' good.

I'm off tomorrow to my parents' house, so I'll see you again on Tuesday!

Phil Potter

There he is. Isn't that a cool picture? It's fascinating that this man's "larger-than-life" persona evidently passed down successfully in 2 separate branches of the family. Adam grew up hearing about him, and the girl in his class also knew the name, and identity of her great-grandfather. That also makes it likely that this is the same man.

The neat photo came to us from Adam's mom.

Replies...

Beth - Well, no, a move is not in the works. We have moved too much. We really want to stay put for a while, especially with the kids in high school. And yes, especially with the bread oven. That's not the kind of thing you can load into the your U-Haul and drive a few states away! Adam kindly told them that he would prefer not to move. But his philosophy of ministry is that a man should be willing to serve where the Lord wants him to, so of course if God strongly directed us to go away, we would.

Jeannie - I never did say, "Welcome!" to you :) And if you're here visiting you DD, please do feel free to drop by for a visit!

Coinky-dinky

I tried to get a cute picture of the cowboy on the Wyoming license plate. Couldn't get it to load on here.(Tried again with Philip's help. Still no go.)

Adam had 2 rather amazing odd and unexpected events today. Let me tell you about them...

He was talking to one of his middle-schoolers today. The girl told Adam that her family moved here from Wyoming. Adam, of course, gave her his usual line that he gives to folks he meets from Wyoming. "Hey! Y'know that cowboy on the Wyoming license plate? Guess you don't know his name! His name is Phil..."

"Potter!" the girl interjects.

"How'd you know that?" Adam asks. Nobody ever knows the name of the Wyoming license plate cowboy. Phil Potter is Adam's great-uncle, and quite a character, evidently.

The girl then replied, "Phil Potter is my great-great-grandfather." (Maybe it was just one great? We're not sure at this point.)

So, Adam is teaching one of his cousins. This girl's older sister was a student of mine last year too. Rather exciting!

But that's not all. Another serendipitous event occurred as well. Adam was talking to another girl in the same class. He asked what she was doing over her long weekend.

"Visiting my grandpa," she said.

Come to find out, her grandpa is the clerk of session in a church in West Virginia which recently approached Adam about becoming their pastor. This girl's aunt wrote to Adam with the inquiry.

So, you just never know if that person you're being rude to in the check-out at WalMart might be a relative. Watch out!

Break a leg, as they say.

No, I didn't break my leg. But I've been contemplating today...if I DID break my leg, or some such tragedy, and were laid up in bed for a good 6 weeks of doing nothing...

What would I do with my time?

Each year when I teach Beowulf I'm reminded how much I LOVE Old English. I mean, I REALLY LOVE it. I spent all my free time at school today looking up Old English words and brute-force translating a small portion of Beowulf. Well, translating might be a bit of a stretch. It is so much fun! I could do it for hours. I honestly do think that if someone said to me, "MK, I'd like to pay for you to go back to school and get a specialized degree in literature. What would you like to study?" I'd kiss their feet and recover myself, and exclaim, "Old English!" It's one of the few bodies of literature that is really small - just a cluster of documents. It's really manageable. Wouldn't it be lovely to be able to just sit down and read something 1200 years old, in the original, and tell myself, "This is the ancestor to my language."

So, if I broke my leg, and had nothing else to do...

Okay, so not all of you feel my enthusiasm. I understand...

Some pictures, you say?

I strolled outside to see what I could see. I think I'm running out of things to photograph. I snapped a pic of our banister and the darkening yard.

When lo and behold, my hubby drove up!

And moments later walked up the back steps bearing groceries and asking for a kiss :)

That Drizzly Weather

I love it. The sky is overcast and has been all day. The air is cool but heavy, and the sound of thousands of leaves rustles through my windows. I've turned off the AC, opened every window and door I can, and it settles my soul. The menfolk are in Hickory at their various Tuesday activities. The womenfolk are sitting in a quiet house. The dog is snoozing on the cold hearth. I've brought no work home, have no movies to watch. I've read half of Candide since last night, which is enough Voltaire for 24 hours.

What should I do with my evening? Walk around the block? (did that last night) Practice piano (I'm tired of piano for now) Blog? (yeah, but I'll be done with that in about 5 minutes...) I finished my latest Victoria magazine.

[Aside...Marie, I think YOU should be featured in Victoria magazine. They always have antique cards and such. You would be a perfect fit!]

I would really like to crochet for the evening. Now that's relaxing. Haven't crocheted in a very long time.

And I started rereading Jewett's "Country of the Pointed Firs" last night. To offset the effect of so much required literature reading, I always have to have a book to read just for pleasure. To remind me that there is still such a thing.