Updates

The deck is ready for summer

The view from the deck overlooking the valley and hills beyond

Some early flowers near the deck

Spinach, radishes, sunflowers, and lettuce planted

Did you miss me? I've been outside, a lot. After we cleaned the deck furniture we tilled and planted the garden with the veggie seeds that tolerate cool conditions. I still have to plant herbs in my pots, veggies that we grow from seedlings instead of seeds (tomatoes and peppers), and annuals for the deck planters, but it is a little too early to do that still.

Tomorrow we are expecting visitors from out of state again. This time Earle's sister and her husband are stopping to see us as they travel back to Maine from spending time in Pennsylvania with their daughter and her family. We are excited to see them. It will be their first time visiting our new home!

Shawn has been working a lot of hours at Target. Last week, between his scheduled hours and the extra hours they called him in, he worked 30 hours. He's raking in the bucks! Target is a great store to work for. He really enjoys the environment and the other employees are great. They have an incentive program where managers give out cards to you when they see you doing a good job, then you post your cards on a bulletin board in the back and each week they put them in a pot and draw a name for a free cd. He hasn't won anything yet, but he sure is gathering his share of cards!

Next week he takes the placement test at the local community college and then he'll be able to sign up for courses for the fall. Then, next Saturday is the SAT exam. We have a lot of work to do still before the end of the year and seem to be ramping back up after a winter slowdown. We are contemplating continuing to school over the summer. I would like to cover a short course in British Lit so he doesn't have to double up on English credits in the fall. The courses he will most likely take at the Community College are English and math.


I am putting together and order from The Teaching Company. I received a $30 coupon from them in the mail yesterday along with three new catalogs. I am ordering Early and Late Middle Ages as they are on sale now. I will have to order High Middle Ages when it goes on sale another time. Shawn will be using these as a spine for history study next year along with the recommended text(s). Since I needed to spend just a bit more in order to use the coupon, we are also ordering My Favorite Universe, which we will all enjoy very much! Shawn and I are making our way through Art Across the Ages right now and we think it's great! I am also investigating physics courses for next year. Our faulty start with Chem this year will not deter us from plowing ahead next year with physics. One does not need to precede the other.


Julia is all signed up for her fall courses. On her agenda: Organic Chem I, Creative Writing: Fiction and Drama, Western Civilization, and Ecology. she will be carrying 15 credits, tutoring for bio and chem again, and working as a chem lab assistant. She could be done and ready to move on to a transfer school after next semester if they were offering the programming course she needs for her major, but her professors aren't upset that she's staying the year. They are glad to have her help in the labs!


It looks like Julia will be going back to Kohl's to work over the summer and she may even fit in some riding lessons. That is all after her trip to Germany with Earle in May. She is so excited to finally get to go! They are even planning to catch an air show in Berlin while they are there. She will be the only one of us to go in the warm weather as opposed to Christmas time.


Earle is off to Taiwan and Germany soon. His pics from his last trip to Germany are up at his blog. He got some great shots, as always and ate some very interesting food! Have you ever had veal cheek? Our photo themes are taking longer than expected due to the yucky weather and the fact that the camera travels with Earle. It will be leaving the country for two weeks this time. Flying objects is just about wrapped up though!


A warm welcome to Meridith, another of my nieces, to the blogisphere! It's always good to see another family member join in the fun. I am looking forward to reading about her adventures. I think it's your turn now, Bev. Meridith's sister Vanessa is off on an adventure soon, check out her blog to see where! It is very exciting and I am very jealous!!


Wow, I think I've covered most things. I haven't had time to do much reading or painting, but hope to get back to that soon as things settle down. We took a lovely walk in the woods in back of our property today and discovered a nice slate filled stream and mini gorge. I will post pics of that another day.