Yesterday turned out to be a beautiful day here. We headed into town about noon, took a wrong turn on the tiny, steep, scary gravel roads and had to back uphill out of a dead end. When we got to Heceta beach the sky was clearing with low clouds/mist breaking overhead. The ocean water is too cool and too wavy there, so we didn't do much more than wade. But we did get Grandma out to the shoreline, not too near the water, to sit on a big log and watch the kids play. Lucas hyperextended his knee and fell as he ran along. We got him a knee brace and some Advil at Fred Meyer and he seems better now. Later in the day we toddled down (a LONG way down) to the dock where I helped the girls get out in the two person canoe, wrenching my wrist in the process. Mike had me go out on the paddle boat with him. It's built for short people or something, because I kept getting a cramp in my thigh. We nearly ran into an overhanging tree because the wind was blowing a bit and the paddle boat wasn't going anywhere even though we were paddling as fast as we could. It's definitely a fair weather craft. Sean and Andrew set out in the two kayaks and went all around the area of the lake we can see from here. You can go to google maps and type in Mercer Lake Oregon to see the lake and surrounding area.
At some point the kids decided to jump off of the dock and go swimming. Sean has very good judgment much of the time, but he wanted to dive off the dock without first checking out the water below. Sometimes I forget they don't have much experience in outdoor things. I made him swim around there for a while before diving off. Turns out it's at least 10 feet deep. Kimmi and our friend Mike were afraid of the spiders on the dock. There were several of them, but come on! They are just spiders. At one point Anna said, "We are such city kids."
All in all it was a wonderful day.

Pretty Things

Some days I wish I had no pets and that the kids were living elsewhere. And here's why:
Yup, a cat or a goofy kid could transform a thousand dollars of elegant art glass into a small pile of pot shards in a matter of seconds. So even though we visited the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, we didn't buy stuff at their lovely, if a bit overpriced gift shop.
Instead, we watched a guest artist, Josie Gluck, create a glass watering can,


then walked across the Dale Chihuly Bridge of Glass.


Photos don't shatter, and they're free!

The Bluest Skies You've Ever Seen

Mike and I are hanging out near Seattle today. We drove through Mount Rainier National Park where the skies really are blue and beautiful, except over the mountain where clouds form nearly every day. We went to see a friend from the army band yesterday evening. He lives in Gig Harbor so we crossed over the Tacoma Narrows bridge. You may have heard of the bridge before. Back in 1940 it did a very creative wind dance before shattering into the sea below. The locals call it Galloping Gertie.
The bridge's gyrations inspired a young inventor to create a new way to utilize wind power to create electricity which you can see here: http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4224763.html
Even the worst disaster can have positive consequences. Lucky for us it wasn't windy the evening we crossed the bridge.

Just Another Sunny Day in Paradise

It's 92 degrees in the shade according to my digital thermometer - 72 in here, 79 in Salem and partly cloudy. Ahhhhh. I really loved the rainy weather this spring and early summer. I guess Oregon will be a good choice for people like us who don't mind dark skies and damp sidewalks. We'll see. Meanwhile, Anna just wrecked her little car - no one hurt but the car's a goner. Andrew was promoted at work and is thrilled, at least now, before the real work begins. And I have applied for a different job. I am not particularly likely to get it, but it's teaching science to sixth graders all day, every day. What a lovely thought. Again, we'll see. That's the news and weather from Welfyville. Happy Day, People!

They Make Me Feel Like Dancing

I didn't bring my camera last night as Mike and I watched members of the 23rd Army Band rock band play a concert in Tooele Park. I wished for it as we watched tiny children running, jumping, twirling and tumbling in time to the music - or not. There was a pair of little boys, maybe 5 or 6 years old, using a set of bleachers as a jungle gym. The smaller boy was agile and graceful. The larger child desperately wanted to keep up with his friend, but couldn't quite get the knack of skipping down four steps and jumping over the fifth to the grass. He would stand at the top and lean out like a baby bird contemplating its first flight, then take a staggering first step and stop, second step, stop, third step, fourth step, stop and consider whether the distance to the grass, and then a careful fifth step before hopping to the ground.
Speaking of baby birds - it's Peregrine falcon season in SLC. Good luck to "Early Bird." You can read more about him here: www.sltrib.com/utah/ci_12717742 (sorry, "insert link" isn't working for me today.)

Being Bored

Well, I'd like a day or two to get bored this summer. It's not happening. A list of things that I've done this summer so far - and recall that summer didn't start for me until June 10th.
1. Our washer went out and we had to go shopping for a new one. The old one was at least 16 years old. So we bought a new set which precipitated number 2 -
2. We had to change out the door to the laundry room because the old door wouldn't clear the new washer's door. That caused us to have to do number 3 -
3. Buy paint and paint a new door and door frame.
4. I went to the dentist for a cleaning where they cleaned off a gold crown. Literally. Now I need a new one. So I went in again for them to prepare the tooth and am still waiting for the final appointment.
5. Cory started having difficulty going up and down stairs. $750 later she is better, has about six fewer teeth, and does not have a herniated disk as we feared.
6. Kimmi, who has been in Spain on a semester abroad decided belatedly that spending an extra week in Madrid with two other young women from her class was a bad idea. She decided this after they spent several very late nights out drinking and gleefully told her just how much cheaper drugs were in Spain. I think she made the right choice, but it was too late to change her flight and send her home early, so we spent two days online with each other setting up a week in London for her so she could visit an old high school friend (who hopefully does not stay out past 2 am and do drugs.)
7. After two years I got word that the people at Qwest who provided a grant for our fifth grade now wants a report on how we spent our money. They wanted the report yesterday. I had to go back into work to find the materials I needed to make the report. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful to Qwest for the money and we used it well. I just didn't need one more job right now.

Well, that's about it for my first quiet weeks of vacation. I'm looking forward to those boring days sometime in the future.

School's Out for the Summer

Isn't that a song? The kids left yesterday at about 12:45. Well, more like 12:40 since I heard the wrong bell and let them loose. This group bolted for the door and most didn't look back. I forget that when it's a hard year for me it's often a hard year for them as well. Meanwhile, my partner across the way spent fifteen minutes after school crying and hugging her group. Don't know which is worse - hating to see them go or having them hate to stay. Next year there will be only two fifth grade classes, so we each have about 30 students. That's a huge increase over the 18 I had this year. I'll miss the calm that a small class brings. The most rotten part is that the classes could get bigger and there would be nothing we could do. Once the number of teachers is set it takes an atom bomb to make the district change anything, even if it's blatently obvious something NEEDS changing. Still, I have a whole two months to recover (Yeah, it's the 10th and I go back on August 12th or so. Though school doesn't start for kids until later in the month.)