after the rain

We have had a couple of days of rain and thunderstorms. The birds seem to be more hungry after it rains.

I hid from the hummingbird and it still wouldn't come drink with me standing there.

The goldfinches were out in full force this morning. I had 6 goldfinches on this sock at the same time. I saw at least 7 in the front yard at one time and they were even eating off the ground. I got more thistle seed yesterday and they really appreciated it, I think.

These flowers guard my tomatoes (they were already here when I got here) from bugs, I guess. They were still full of water from the rain.

I have all kinds of finches in the front yard and they get along ok for the most part. At one point, I had 5 female house finches on this feeder and there are only 4 perches.

I thought this spider web was cool. It stretched all the way from the ground up to one of the branches on my walnut tree.

Anybody know what kinda vine this is? It's growing on my front "porch" and just started flowering. The hummingbirds don't seem to care about the flowers, but maybe that's because I have their feeder right next to the vine!

going home time . . . and back to work

Today was the last day of meetings at the Opryland Hotel. This picture is of the lobby outside of the Delta Ballroom, where all of the general session meetings and some of the bigger breakout sessions were held. There is a nice view of the Atrium from up there. Ryan and I were up above it for a breakout session so I snapped a picture on our way down the stairs.

Pretty much everyone has been walking around with their phones stuck to their ears (or using Bluetooth earpieces). It's the best way to find who you're looking for in a place this big.

I didn't really get to say goodbye to anyone besides dad, Mary Jane, & Randy. I didn't feel like looking for them and my ride was leaving. I ran into Moffits today and saw their new baby girl.

Sorry this isn't a self-portrait, Jaclyn, but it's the only picture of us from today! We've gotten spoiled getting to be around each other this much. I won't see Ryan again until September break when we go to Collegedale together. =(

braindead at 11:30

These are just some random pics to show more of what we've been doing . . .

Highland Academy staff walking in to worship from where we left the vehicles parked at Opry Mills Mall. (r to l: Jifer Proctor, Becky Patrick, Don Mathis, Michael Smith, others in background)
I know that I am truly braindead because I posted this as r to l and it should be l to r!

The Delta Island, where food, music, and shows happen every day. They've been having a Chinese acrobat show in the evenings that you technically have to pay to watch.

Delta Ballroom, the main place where General Sessions and worships are held. I think they said there are around 6,500 people attending.

Dad & me at the buffet yesterday taking millions of self-portraits

Poor, poor Wendy. Mark being an idiot at the buffet thing. He kept calling John Nafie's cell phone to annoy him. It was pretty funny.

Click pic at your own risk! I don't advise it . . .
Does this remind anyone else of high school? Mark used to take whoever's camera was laying around and take pictures of himself like this. I know of at least one time I got one of these lovely momentos as a surprise!

my address: opryland hotel

Dad and I started out the day by donating blood downstairs at the Red Cross cardboard camp. They're really not as efficient at taking blood and getting the whole process done as Blood Assurance is. I've donated lots of times, so I should know. (I just do it for the Little Debbies . . . j/k)

We skipped the afternoon General Session to hit the booths I hadn't seen yet. My favorite thing from today is one of those stupid little fans with plastic soft blades from LaSierra. The nice people at the Andrews University booth gave me a sticker when I signed up for an iPod, so I stuck it on Dr. Swafford's back while he was talking to someone. My dad stuck this one on my bag, so I wrote an "S" on it and it's still stuck there. =)

The afternoon breakout session I went to was by William Glasser, who developed Choice Theory. I went to a session by Jim Roy yesterday about the correlation between Glasser's writings and what Ellen White said a LONG time before Glasser. They're very similar. Glasser is an agnostic, but says if SDAs would follow EGW writings, we'd be fine. Anyway, for you non-education people, it was a good meeting. He just talks really s l o w.

After the Southern Union math teachers' meeting that dad and I had to go to, we met up with Ryan and toured the gardens and took pictures. The Garden Conservatory has lots of little statues of kids all around that are kinda cool.

Thank goodness there are escalators in some places, or my feet/legs would hurt even worse than they already do. I think I may have to visit the chiropractor after carrying my super heavy bag around all week too! Ryan was talking to his parents on the phone trying to line up some supper. Ours was provided by the Southern Union during the math meeting, so he got left out and didn't get to go to the Hunts' =(

I really like watching the water jump in the Cascades atrium fountains. After taking about 20 pictures playing around with exposure length, I didn't even post any ; )

This is me reaching into the giant waterfall from behind. It's in the same Cascades area at the main hotel entrance. The problem with all of these really nice water displays, fountains, waterfalls, fake rivers, pools, etc. is that you have to pee all the time if you stay in there! It's no good at all!

The only time I have felt comfortable outside since this convention started was this evening on the west (I think) side of the hotel. It's on the side where the main lobby for hotel registration is. I guess you have to stay at this place for quite a while to know what you're actually paying all that money for. . .

After walking for quite a while, we happened upon the spa/indoor pool/fitness place. They have two more outdoor pools right next door. The petunias made the air smell wonderful and the sunset (even in the southern sky in this pic) was really pretty.

I decided to use the "surreal" setting on my camera (also known as "sunset mode") to take a picture of the jacuzzi that was closed and then me in the foreground.