This Cat

Rustle rustle! Crackle crackle! She bats her paws at the skirt around the blue hassock.Then she dives underneath and grabs at something. There it is: a bag of cat treats that she carries around the house in her mouth. Actually she zooms around with it in her mouth. Quicker than a flash she puts this bag into her mouth and runs through the house with the fish shaped treats still zip locked into the bag. Photos coming soon.

Real retirement

With the paying off of the federal government, I have begun my real retirement.  This fall I am trying to decide how to spend my time. I have different subjects I can study: Bible study, crocheting, literature, Spanish, writing, service learning, and my very favorite phys.ed.Notice there is no mathematics maybe computer time will have to cover that!  So now I just have to decide when to study them.  I also have to decide with whom to spend time.  Ah decisions.

Encouragement

Today I taught Sunday school for the second time in 20+ years. It is not the same. But the kids were great and loads of fun and energy. If I do it again I will take them outside for some exercise between first and third service. The lesson was on encouragement. But the Bible story didn't really talk about encouragement. It was about a silversmith named Demetrius. I really needed pictures to go along with the story too, but there weren't any. However we all got the idea about how to encourage others though I didn't get to all the activities, talked too much. After Sunday school, I received encouragement from two friends. One gave me a rose from Equador, and another gave me a refrigerator magnet with my name in French. I believe the Bible verse says "Build one another up, " which you can do with words cards prayers and even gifts.
Yep here it is:

1 Thessalonians 5:11 

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
and now you know what first and second graders are studying in Sunday school.

Another Birthday

What is it about August birthdays? I remember it was way too hot to have a baby. I remember swimming a lot before my youngest son, Jono was born. Not so much when Lita was born. Anyway, Jonathan's birthday is Monday and he is going to be 27. Oh my  I can't believe that he is that old! Where does time go? David Geyer is also going to be 27 and a whole bunch of other babies that were born that year will be or already are, too. Like Hannah, and Andy and Joel and Jamie, and I know there were more born that summer. I  just can't remember their names. There were 11 in the nursery and only two were girls; we all said well there will be a war. Strange how that came to pass.
So now Monday is Jonathan's birthday and I am so glad that he is my youngest son. He has been a blessing to me. From him I have learned perseverance, patience, unconditional love, and how to do Algebra II .(sorry Mr. Greene.)again.  May he live a long and happy life and have many sons and daughters. Happy birthday Jonathan  Keith Jones.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow is August 16. This year it is the first day of school. And it is Lita's 20th birthday. Happy Birthday to my youngest daughter. She is so special.  Tomorrow I am fixing a birthday breakfast for anyone who wants to come. Of all my children she is the only one who wants to teach school. Though the others are teachers in their own ways they do not work for the public schools. I hope that Lita makes it and gets to live her dream. I am so glad that I do NOT have to go in to work in the hot building, though lately the weather has been cooler, 78 instead of 98.      Hooray for retirement!
AND, Hooray for Lita!

Wild and Crazy

Today, after seeing the movie Hope Springs,  I was talking a with a friend and we were trying to see if we were really wild and crazy women. What kind of wild things did I ever do?
Thinking back:
1.  I roller skated around an open man hole cover.
2 I walked along the top of a fence that had rose bushes growing on the other side.
3. I swung on a neighbors rope swing out over a dusty dirty root covered cliff  (It possibly was a hill.)
4. At some point in elementary school I walked home from school on the side of the apartments closest to the woods.
5. Hmm can't think of anything else except riding behind strange ( well they were from Calumet and Laurium Michigan) teenage boys on their motorcycles.
6. Ah yes, My boyfriend used to climb the wall into my bedroom at night. But that was him climbing I just threw out the sheet.
7.  Once I went 100 mph on the Beltway just to see if my Mustang would do it.
8. Last year I rode the Lazy River in Kings Island during a thunder storm because I couldn't get out until we reached the stairs.
9. A couple of years ago I went swimming off the rocks at the light house in Eagle Harbor.
10. Three times I had unprotected sex and got pregnant. ( You would think that after the first time I would figure out something from this lesson.)

Lets face  it, I am not a wild or crazy  woman. I mean I don't ride roller coasters, much less rides that go upside down or spin around. I have never jumped out of a plane, or skied a mountain side.  I have never hiked the Appalachian trail nor have I sailed around the world.  Though once I went boating on the Chesapeake Bay and sun bathed in a two piece bathing suit. I am just a plain happy person who likes to have a mildly good time and loves to play with kids!

I love to roast marshmallows over a campfire, play cards, do crafts, pick a thimble berry or two, and every now and then go crazy up the down the escalator.  That my friends is good enough for me.