So I got tagged a while ago, and I decided I wanted to do my own version of it. I mean, there's no doubt I have enough eccentricities to fill a much longer list than 8. I just wanted to do something a little less embarrassing.
So...
8 people who have improved my life... who I am not directly related to, and I have actually met.
1. Mrs. Hodges. My Kindergarten teacher. She would take the stickers from our bananas and wear them on her ears like earrings. She was a lot of fun. She came through my check-out line when I was 16, and actually recognized and remembered me!
2. The Dennison family. I babysat their kids, and they were my first exposure to homeschooling and living TV-free. I honestly didn't get to know them all that well, but meeting people like that (who seemed amazingly normal to someone who had never met homeschoolers before) gave me my first glimpse into the world that I find myself living in now.
3. Cathy Peter. She was a lady at church where I grew up. She had kids my age and younger, so I was in class with her oldest, and before I left I taught a class with her 2nd assisting me, and the 3rd and 4th for students. She was kind, never forgot a birthday, and knew how to make you feel like you could do anything. She should know--she brought those 4 kids to church every time the doors were opened, with a husband who wasn't a Christian.
4. Tim Hawk. Our first located preacher that I remember much about, and he and Jill were just a lot of fun. Tim evidently shared my enjoyment of word play, based on the poem he wrote in my 6th grade yearbook. I know he didn't write it himself, I've seen it other places.
"One bright day in the middle of the night,
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other.
A deaf policeman heard the noise
and came and killed the two dead boys."
A little morbid, maybe, but still funny.
5. & 6. Howard and Karen Colvin. They each deserve their own entry, they were just so kind to me. They invited a lonely college student over just about every Sunday afternoon it seemed, and provided me with wonderful food and even better company. Their hospitality was a bright spot in a rather unhappy year for me. The conversation was always uplifting there, and I appreciated the inclusion more than words can say.
7. Reita Moffitt. (she's not *directly* related, just by marriage.) Aunt Reita and Uncle Todd were my other bright spot that year. I spent many happy afternoons in their house. Aunt Reita is probably also the reason that I got into volunteering a library years later. She works in the children's department of a rather big library. Around the time Harry Potter #4 came out, she was trying to decide whether or not the library should pick up that series, if it was appropriate or not. So she brought me 1-3 from the library and asked me to read them to review them for her. I finished them in one weekend. So now you know whose fault it is that I read all 7 in the series. :) Aunt Reita is kind and upbeat, and energetic. And Matthew's Mom tells me that Matthew reminds her of Uncle Todd, so I figure I need to take a page from Aunt Reita's book now and then. :)
8. I can't think of a number 8. Isn't 7 the number of completeness anyway?
I really enjoyed getting to know Reita and Todd the weekend of your wedding! And I still think of the drink she made us, with vanilla ice cream, lime sherbet, 7-Up, and melted mint jelly. YUM!!!!
Here's what we learned about in Science/Nature Study:
(Most of which involved me learning which programs allow you to write on a picture--"Paint" yes. Picasa, Open Office, Kodak's software, no.)
Next we move on to identifying the flower itself, rather than just its parts. We took a flower walk, but there are surprisingly few flowers in this neighborhood. Not just because it's fall, either. There weren't even places for flowers at most houses. But I digress... could you help me identify some of these? I never have been good at flower names beyond a basic few.
Aster (the purple) is my guess. The next two are some kind of composite- it helps to have the leaves, too. I would guess a coneflower family for the third.
Petunia, Chrysanthemum and marigold are thel ast three.
I took the previous one down because I thought the detail might be too much... internet being internet, and me not being gold.
My car is at the shop tonight... work getting done tomorrow. Hopefully that will be the end of that eerie creaking sound it makes whenever I go over bumps. That doesn't exactly inspire confidence in its safety. I can't wait to have my car trustworthy again. Oh, and gas prices... wow, a good wow. I saw $3.18 today. It was just 4 months ago it was topping $4.
We got into 4-H. There were concerns that there wouldn't be enough room, they have a limited capacity, but she made it. Finally get to make some friends in town I hope. Abigail is going great guns at her schoolwork too... I just realized that we're a full week ahead on our literature (as per Ambleside Online Year 1). She's doing very well at math too... the book I chose is quite thorough, but I feel like it's moving too slow, too much repetition. We finished Level K math in 21 days. I chalked that up to it being beneath her. We've been doing Level 1 for 8 or 9 days, and it seems to be keeping up the pace... I still chalk it up to her math skills... they do run in the family. On both sides. I mean, I met Matthew in Calculus, as best we can recall. (Neither of us actually remembers... we did go to church at the same place the day before that class, and I think I may have seen the back of his head... but I couldn't tell you if that was the first Sunday, or later.) On that note, anyone interested in buying some math notebooks? :) "Making Math Meaningful", Level K available now, Level 1 before too long.
Her reading continues to amaze me. It's just so much fun watching the proverbial light bulb light up over her head.
I need to be off to bed... more fall pictures tomorrow.
Well, driving along the coast from Boston is our plan for next Thursday when we first arrive in Massachusetts. Can you give me any pointers? Do you know if the lighthouses can be seen from the road or if there are signs off of Route 1 indicating where they are? I just don't want to get up there and not have any real idea of where I'm going or what I'm doing.
I think we're just about at peak now, but as there is no rain in the forecast for the next 5 days, it may actually last for a while. I'm sure there will be more pictures. :)
Wow... very pretty pictures. I know I may be ignorant, but does Maine have rolling hills/mountains, because it looks like it from one of those pictures. Our peak leaf time will be in about 2 or 3 more weeks. I love this time of year!
So, I mentioned on Facebook (where, incidentally, you can't lurk without an account, He-Bruce) that I got a new camera recently. I'm very excited about this. It is so much better than my old camera. (It's a Kodak Easy Share Z something or other, 8 megapixels.)
So here are some pictures I've taken with it....
Abigail waiting for Geoffrey the Giraffe to appear, then terrified of him.
Birthday festivities
Fall Color
More later. I would estimate I'm about 700 pictures in, not that many of those are worth sharing.
The last I heard was that he was conscious, talking, and moving his extremities. He wanted to get up, but the doctors wouldn't let him do that yet. They were still running tests to determine the extent of his injuries. I'll probably catch a more detailed update this weekend.
