break from reality

long days make long weeks

Well, this week has already been long. We have the HA Board meeting Thursday that takes lots of time to get ready for. I finally got the last of the Touch the Future mailing out yesterday, so that's out of my hands. I have to get the Oct./Nov. calendars out to parents/schools/churches/miscellaneous others in the next couple of days.

On Friday, Nikie and I are going to go down to the County Clerk's office and become notaries. We have to take care of all of the parental permission forms for the seniors going on their mission trip to Belize.

Jaclyn is already laughing at me, but I don't care. I bought some Nu Finish car polish stuff tonight at Walmart and decided that the security lights should be put to good use. I finished the hood, front quarter panels, and roof tonight, but figured I shouldn't try to do the sides until I had real sunlight.

Well, I'm on the phone with Ryan right now, so I'm going to stop typing and listen better. ; )

on the road again

I decided last minute that it would be fun to go to Collegedale for the weekend, since there wasn't anything going on here. All of our girls either went home or to the KY-TN Young Womens' Retreat at ICC.

I got to Jaclyn's around 9p Friday night, just as SAU's vespers was getting out. Jaclyn, Ryan (hers), and I talked for a while that night.


Stephanie and Tanya and Ryan came over for breakfast and then we all went to the Third for church. This is Stephanie illustrating Jaclyn's observation that you don't need throw pillows if you have enough bears!

The forecast for the weekend was not good at all - tornado watch until 9p Sat. night. After our quick lunch with the same crew as breakfast, Ryan, Jaclyn, and I went down to the Veterans' Park in Collegedale to play catch for a while. Our fun was rained out more quickly than we would have liked. The wind was so strong, the flags are starting to fray.

Ryan had to work in the dean's office Sabbath afternoon, so we headed to the Heilmans' without him. He came over and met us later though. Stephanie had gone with the Social Work Club out to do community service at a homeless shelter, so we didn't see her much until later Sat. night. We basically talked and layed on the floor and took stupid pictures of each other for most of the time we were at the Heilmans'.

We learned that the best intentions to order and pick up pizza can be easily ruined if the Pizza Hut doesn't tell you that they're closed (FOR GOOD) and have forwarded their calls all the way across town! There was no way we were going all the way to Hwy 58 to pick up a pizza. So we opted for Taco Bell, along with 1/3 of Ooltewah.

Today was fun because Jaclyn and I got to go shopping. It felt like the good 'ole days. : ) We also went down to see Elaine (my cooperating teacher from OMS) and ended up waking her up! It was fun to see her and the pets.

Yes, I did take this picture while driving and while talking to dad on the phone. Bring on the comments. : )

I had the camera out because the clouds looked neat and actually stopped to take a couple of pictures, but it was too late and the sun had gone down too much. The good news was that I stopped at a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut and got some breadsticks. You can see some confused geese flying WEST in this picture.

finally!

me & my little friends

Last night was our Seniors vs. School football games up at the field. It's so nice to have an athletic field that actually has lights, even if these are fairly dim and just the right height to ruin even the best photographs.

This picture is from the girls' game, which was played first. Jill is the one in green playing for the school team. I had a hard time getting any worthwhile action shots, but staying on my feet kept me awake.

Becky coached the girls' school team and Michael played in the guys' staff vs. school game, so the girls were up at the field even until I left around 11p. Gabby was the loudest cheerleader there and the seniors convinced her to cheer for them. We tried taking some self-portraits. This first one didn't work too well. Olivia kept leaning in too far or sliding down, or trying to push the button.

This one worked better. Olivia pointed and shrieked when I showed her this picture on the viewfinder. She yelled, "Me!" and then pointed at my face and laughed. She ran around a lot during the games. She even sat on a football in the middle of the softball field. When I asked her what she was doing, she just said, "Egg." I guess she was trying to hatch it!

Sparky was the seniors' mascot, I guess. He's being trained to be a seeing eye dog and lives with the Leys. His big "brother" and "sister" played football. He always gets bored and rolls over on his back.








And my last little friend was this cardinal I found on the ground this morning. I think it flew into the windshield of the RV parked beside the triplex. It finally hopped away after it sat behind me for a while.

a walk in the park

Today we headed down to Percy Warner Park in southwest Nashville. It's pretty close to where Jaclyn and I went to the Belle Meade Plantation.

We left at about 9:00 am from campus and got back this afternoon around 4:45 pm. I rode with Don & J.P. on our '90 IH bus (looks like a school bus) and actually did the navigating for the caravan because we were in front. This was a little worrisome, because none of us had ever been there before.

I had fun taking pictures and playing with Olivia and Gabby before and after lunch. Olivia likes to "take" the pictures, by me holding the camera and her pushing the shutter button. Don snagged my camera and took this picture of Olivia and me drawing in my sketch book. I drew her a bird and she erased it.

Nikie got her time in with the girls too. You'll just have to take my word that this is actually Nikie, since her hair is covering her face! Olivia was pretty worn out by the time we were finished eating lunch. She wanted to swing for about 2 hours (it felt like), so I pushed her for a long time. She was pretty quiet and I thought she was going to fall asleep in the swing, but we had to leave before she could.

I love this picture of Gabby. She was laughing at Tristan (Michael Smith's grandson) winding the swings up and watching them untwist. Gabby is a soccer fanatic and practices all the time. She told us Thursday that she scored 18 goals at her last game! I wonder if there was a goalie?

We had about 50 other people sharing the same general area as our group. They were a Christian motorcycle group and some of them even had heard of Highland before. Several of our kids stood around talking to them and mooched some "real" hamburgers off of them! It was kind of funny. Those people probably think we starve the kids here because they don't get meat.

Don & J.P. brought 4 nice big chairs to sit in. I think they might have stolen them from Little Debbie or something. That's what they remind me of, anyway.

I am in no way a fan of fungus, but this shelf mushroom was too cool not to take a picture of. I lined up so the sun was directly behind it. It was at least a foot wide. Chadd Watkins and I saw it while we were birding on the trail around the nature center at the park. It ended up being a mostly mosquito-slapping trip, but we did see a LOT of American Redstarts, a Black-and-White Warbler, a Hermit Thrush, a Magnolia Warbler, a Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, plus the usuals.

I saw a Black-Throated Green Warbler, a Palm Warbler, and a Red-Eyed Vireo in my walnut tree this morning too. Thank goodness for migration!

Because I know your Sabbath wouldn't be complete without it . . . here's another nature pic. This chipmunk tried to hide, but I found it anway. It's not a great picture or anything and I had to crop it to get it this close. I just like chipmunks, except when they're singing in trios!

snapshots

I had too many good pictures from the weekend to do just one post.

In case you thought there was not a picture of me wakeboarding while not frowning, here it is! I know you're very excited. Jaclyn says I have to work on my wakeboarding face.







It disappeared!











Stephanie looks scared to cross the wake again after that sequence that can be seen on Jaclyn's blog.

Dad & Jason eating and playing with cell phones in Talge Sabbath afternoon.







Jaclyn really should learn not to make these faces if she doesn't want them posted all over the Internet . . . don't you agree?










I am not responsible for Grant's fashion non-sense!











Ryan and I found that turning your hat sideways keeps it from blowing off and allows you to take pictures without the bill getting in the way.

When the water's smooth enough, you can see your reflection as you wakeboard.

I win!!! I win!!!

Ding, dong! The mouse is dead
Which old mouse? The wicked mouse.
Ding, dong! The wicked mouse is dead!


I don't want to do that again without a cat!

I'm back . . . oh joy . . .

I had a great time down in Collegedale for break from the 6th until today. I picked up Ryan at the Nashville airport on Wednesday evening and we drove down to Collegedale. On Thursday, we headed out on the boat with Randy & Mary Jane and it felt like we had never left.

We went back out Friday afternoon after eating with Jaclyn & Ryan K. at Olive Garden for lunch and a little bit of shopping. I swear I was just giving Ryan a nice hug in this picture, regardless of what anyone else tells you!

Why do I get the feeling I'm about to have gloves thrown at my head?

Now I see why people invite my family members to go boating. I used to be the one to fall like this, but after getting hurt one too many times, I've toned it down. Mom reminded me of my "Carrie Knievel" nickname. Grant went big without having the ability to land or look graceful. We thank him for this wonderful photo opportunity.

Sabbath afternoon, the Heilmans, my family, Jaclyn, Stephanie, and Hollie, went to the Chickamauga dam for a good hot dog lunch. We managed to get in a good game of catch on the side of the slope too. I don't have any pictures of that because I was playing!

Saturday afternoon family and friends gathered in Talge Hall for a monster of a meal. Ethan kept everyone busy and laughing the whole time. He loves the camera and making cheesy grins.

Ethan loves broccoli. He likes hiding carrots in between couch cushions too. He can't be perfect, I guess!

L to R: me, Allison, Ethan, Jeremy, Tonda, Grant, Grandpa Rilea, Jason, Grandma Dut, Elsa, mom, Del, dad
I just realized that I don't know how to spell Pattons' names. Maybe Del has one "l" and maybe it has two?!? Maybe I should have put three just to cover my bases!

Grandpa got put in charge of cracking eggs again at the pancake feed at Southern this morning. I don't think he's usually allowed to cook at home. He said they lost 26 people last year from these guys cooking breakfast!

Mom finished my really cool quilt/duvet cover and brought it to me this weekend. She said it needs ironing, but I don't think she realizes that my covers get straightened out once a week, if I'm lucky!

weekly dose of birds

Instead of eating lunch today, I sat in my car and took pictures of the birds at my feeders. I took some pita chips with me, so I wasn't totally skipping the meal.

The goldfinches like to fight each other for the best spot on the thistle sock.

This nuthatch noticed me hiding in my car. You can see it staring at me, deciding whether or not to brave a flight to the bird feeder.

He decided to go for it! All of the seeds he took were carried up to the tree bark, where they were shoved in the cracks in the bark and then cracked open.

This a female goldfinch with non-breeding plumage. I think they look totally different from the other birds. Try to find one that looks like this in your bird book!

end of the week . . . finally

This week has felt really long. It's probably because this is the sixth straight day of work. And what am I rewarded with, but supervision duty for this weekend. No rest for the weary.

Sunday was our fall picnic, but you already knew that because that's my most recent post before this one. If you want to see more pictures, go to HA's website. Most of my work will end up going into that site, because it's what I'm responsible for.

We've been having our Week of Spiritual Emphasis (aka Week of Prayer). The evening meetings have been down at the church, until tonight, when we had to meet in the gym. I snapped this picture walking out to my car after Monday's meeting. I'll upload more of the pictures to HA's site on Monday or whenever I get to it. We had students and a staff member do testimonies each night. I ended up having to take my tripod and setting my camera on 800 ISO to get "clear" pictures. I didn't want to distract anyone with the flash. I ended up with funny-looking pictures of in-focus bodies, but moving mouths and eyelids!

Tomorrow, I'm on duty for Sabbath school, church, 3-5p at the park (the same one I took Ryan to), and then Junque Games at 8p. I don't think I'm on for supper. I'm confused . . . wait, maybe I'm not . . . I'm actually looking forward to Junque Games (Trash Night to all of you MPA people). It was one of my favorite events to go to. We have a "Nafie" situation this year, with Tyler Mathis as Freshman class president. We'll see if they can pull off a win over the older, wiser Seniors and Juniors. Don't count on it. I've already seen several versions of THE LIST floating around between the students this week, so they're gearing up for a good competition. I'll be there, camera in hand!