Swimming in friends

One of the senior students who has inspired and helped William for years is Rogers Gossett. After the addition of their first child, (Holland) his wife (Jane) and I have become good friends. They shared their great pool with our family this summer. Here are a few photos to remind us of the joy of friends...

Mini Kendo camp

Actually it was just another normal week of Kendo, but William had a good friend (Galen) stay with us for the entire week. It was wonderful. He's a great kid and I wish he'd rubbed off on William some more. Fortunately Max was around to give Galen some more mature time. We went swimming twice, the zoo, teen night once or twice, the civil rights museum and Pink Palace IMAX.

2008 US Kendo Championships Las Vegas

Here are some of the photos I took with William's new (small) camera. Thank you to everyone who supported him on this journey, gave him jobs, money, advice and training. He has a long way to go until next championships in 3 years, but he is determined to return and improve his performance.

Guess who's coming for dinner?

Half of a hormone-free, grass fed cow! The Mastons have beef, lamb and now even pork available! We're picking up half a cow tomorrow morning. I found them through the Farm Bureau's magazine. I checked out the PickTnproducts.org to see when the Harris' would have their organic blueberries available and noticed the site listed meat too. A few emails later and we had a check in the mail for a deposit on "our" cattle. They give a discount to homeschoolers and law enforcement/fire etc. Give Paulette a call and tell her I sent you! Next up is a sheep in the fall. Wonder if I can spin their fleece? Tomorrow i hope to remember to ask for a few bones for the dogs.

The weekend of insane activity and indulged teenagers

William's Kendo team practice in Nashville brought about several other activities in the interest of saving fuel. First, here are some photos of William at practice and the obligatory beer and food that follows. For better photos go here. Thanks to Lisa for letting us stay with her. We drove William to the middle of freaking no where so he could stay over night with a homeschool buddy. Returned to Nashville for a brief break before going on a Starbucks mystery shop and pestering Ginger for directions to iD camp check-in. Thank heavens for the new GPS! We got Max checked in to camp where upon he instantly dismissed me and I was free to dash over and meet Lisa & Lynette to go to the CMA Fest. Lisa sweetly obtained a ticket for me! After having massive cell phone problems complete with leaving some bizarre message that alarmed my brother, parents and wife, I finally met up with Lynette and got to the stadium. Great performers, though Billy Ray must learn to shut up. Picked up William the next day and headed home. Beat for the next two days. Today is the first day I could even put 2 thoughts together, unfortunately those thoughts were "vacuum" and "mop". UGH!

the next summer knit top

Technically I should have done Lotus Blossom first, but I just wasn't feeling it. After knocking Lelah out in 4 days, I instantly swatched for lotus blossom and got gauge! I planned to alter the top (don't I always), but followed the directions for the size large. After one entire repeat it was obvious that everyone was right, this pattern runs outrageously large. I should have swatched a lace section, no wait, I think I did! After some lamenting and gnashing of teeth, I frogged the effer and headed off to Nashville for the LAST SEUSKF team practice. Foolishly thinking I'd have 5 hours to knit. Of course Arai-sensei's wife conned me into timing ji geiko, Masumi needed ice packs, somebody else needed athletic tape and it was "mom to the rescue". The knitting whined. I snuck off and got a bit done later. After 2 repeats I can see I am still going to have to alter this pattern so basically I am lifting the lace pattern and changing everything else. In hindsight, I wish I had purchased Soie Bamboo for this top. The Sonata is stiff and will not have the drape or weight I had wished for, but the cost is right. Hopefully I can beat the heck out of it in the washing machine with a pair of jeans and soften it up.

new FO, Lelah, summer top

right out of the shower, no air conditioning, no makeup, no more excuses. quick and easy, I think I knit this up in about 4 days!

Cool teenaged boy...

...with a new hair(against his will), straight (still braced teeth) and new glasses. Life is good!

Health Talk producer comes to visit

Carolynn Delaney came and shot video with the help of a local camera crew. I think the idea is to make several videos for Health Talk, each focusing on a different aspect of Dementia (diagnosis, living, plans for the future?) She was a joy to work with! I would welcome her back any time! Health Talk is an amazing place with personal stories, professional information and "ask the doctor" format all in one place. I did not take many photos as all, but here are a few.

How to build a patio without really trying

1. Have a friend decide to rip out her walkways
2. have the same friend offer to let you have the bricks if you remove them
3. get your teenaged sons to help you dig them up and load them in the truck (three times)
4. Have your hard working teenaged son clean the bricks and stack then neatly
5. Have your slacker teen marginally clean and horribly stack the remainder of the bricks
6. con a good friend to come "help" (since he's already built his own patio)
7. Get busy cooking, watching his kid brother etc...have everyone else do whatever he says
8. Go out occasionally to move a few dozen bricks.
   
9. Provide great barbeque and drinks and swimming compliments of #1&2