So, it's been a while. It's been quite a while, but I'm back. Here's what's up:
Roan "graduated" kindergarten and is now firmly in the grasp of the public education system. But, so it goes. He's reading some and enjoys writing and creating stories, along with soccer, football, baseball, treasure hunting (or, in his case, finding. Thanks Crazy) canoeing (took he and Sam down the French Broad this weekend. Nice little run), running, wrestling, talking, and playing with Teagan, who, coincidentally, turned one in May, then waited until we got her to the beach to start walking. Now she barely sits down. Loves to bring me things out of the recycle bin. Had a great school year. What a great group of kids, too. Bright, funny, curious, caring, and completely whacked out. Hey, they're eighth graders.
Carrie did amazing work in her first year as principal. Vast improvement in test scores, discipline, structure, organization and morale. It's a lot of work, and with a two young kids and then me on top of it. Poor girl. She has this amazing energy and focus. She helps me remember what a gift our lives are and that giving back in recognition of that gift is not an act, but a way of living.
Gathered with the Zeke and the bro's down in Key Largo for a week in June. Spent five days sailing on the Reprieve, a twenty five foot sailboat (Erwin?). It's a testament to our parents that we're a family that can spend five days on a little boat with no hurt feelings (at least, none that I'm aware of. Thanks, Mom and Dad. I think of camping at Lake Eufala in March and Fried pork chops on Sunday afternoon, growing through the psychosis of adolescence secure in the knowledge that all was forgiven. Forgiven at birth. What a concept. Somebody really ought to patent that and sell it as a religion. But I digress. If, at 16, Roan can, with no hesitation, call home at two in the morning saying he's OK, but the car is, well...he needs a ride. He's in the national forest about twenty miles away. Did I mention that it was two in the morning? And I have to work tomorrow? If he can do that, I'll have given him one of the great treasures of my life. I did that. More than once. Knowing it was forgiven. Knowing that even at my worst, I was safe. It's a legacy I hope I'm passing down everyday.
The pictures from the trip are on Zeke's (nicely done) web site: http://zekeweb.home.mindspring.com/.
Now, for the summer ahead of us. There's the kitchen remodel, which wasn't supposed to be this way. The crew we hired to do the basic expansion really messed some things up, so that's going to take a little more time and effort than we budgeted. So it goes. And then the landscaping project in the back: a fifty foot retaining wall about three feet high. That's going to be fun. And after that, a deck. Throw in a few weekend camping/canoe trips, a week long trip to New York camping in the Adirondacks with Jim and Paul and Claire, a short trip to Alabama, and brothers and sisters, we have a full summer. We'll see, but I'll be happy if we get the deck and kitchen done with time to spare for Little Blue on the water. The trips to New York and Alabama are only contingent, at this point, on the kitchen.
That's more than anyone needs to know, really, but there you have it. I try to avoid naval gazing here, but so it goes sometimes. By the way, the "so it goes" is indeed borrowed from Kurt Vonnegut. A voice of reason largely ignored, and it shows.
Roan "graduated" kindergarten and is now firmly in the grasp of the public education system. But, so it goes. He's reading some and enjoys writing and creating stories, along with soccer, football, baseball, treasure hunting (or, in his case, finding. Thanks Crazy) canoeing (took he and Sam down the French Broad this weekend. Nice little run), running, wrestling, talking, and playing with Teagan, who, coincidentally, turned one in May, then waited until we got her to the beach to start walking. Now she barely sits down. Loves to bring me things out of the recycle bin. Had a great school year. What a great group of kids, too. Bright, funny, curious, caring, and completely whacked out. Hey, they're eighth graders.
Carrie did amazing work in her first year as principal. Vast improvement in test scores, discipline, structure, organization and morale. It's a lot of work, and with a two young kids and then me on top of it. Poor girl. She has this amazing energy and focus. She helps me remember what a gift our lives are and that giving back in recognition of that gift is not an act, but a way of living.
Gathered with the Zeke and the bro's down in Key Largo for a week in June. Spent five days sailing on the Reprieve, a twenty five foot sailboat (Erwin?). It's a testament to our parents that we're a family that can spend five days on a little boat with no hurt feelings (at least, none that I'm aware of. Thanks, Mom and Dad. I think of camping at Lake Eufala in March and Fried pork chops on Sunday afternoon, growing through the psychosis of adolescence secure in the knowledge that all was forgiven. Forgiven at birth. What a concept. Somebody really ought to patent that and sell it as a religion. But I digress. If, at 16, Roan can, with no hesitation, call home at two in the morning saying he's OK, but the car is, well...he needs a ride. He's in the national forest about twenty miles away. Did I mention that it was two in the morning? And I have to work tomorrow? If he can do that, I'll have given him one of the great treasures of my life. I did that. More than once. Knowing it was forgiven. Knowing that even at my worst, I was safe. It's a legacy I hope I'm passing down everyday.
The pictures from the trip are on Zeke's (nicely done) web site: http://zekeweb.home.mindspring.com/.
Now, for the summer ahead of us. There's the kitchen remodel, which wasn't supposed to be this way. The crew we hired to do the basic expansion really messed some things up, so that's going to take a little more time and effort than we budgeted. So it goes. And then the landscaping project in the back: a fifty foot retaining wall about three feet high. That's going to be fun. And after that, a deck. Throw in a few weekend camping/canoe trips, a week long trip to New York camping in the Adirondacks with Jim and Paul and Claire, a short trip to Alabama, and brothers and sisters, we have a full summer. We'll see, but I'll be happy if we get the deck and kitchen done with time to spare for Little Blue on the water. The trips to New York and Alabama are only contingent, at this point, on the kitchen.
That's more than anyone needs to know, really, but there you have it. I try to avoid naval gazing here, but so it goes sometimes. By the way, the "so it goes" is indeed borrowed from Kurt Vonnegut. A voice of reason largely ignored, and it shows.
