Dancing...

That little Shawn Johnson is cute and all that, but Gilles Marini was robbed.

Lions and tigers and is that a real bear? Oh my!

I was driving DH over to Staunton this afternoon. As we crested Afton Mountain and started down into the Shenandoah Valley we saw a smallish bear start to cross the highway. As it saw cars coming down the hill at a high rate of speed it turned tail and ran back into the woods. Wow. Last bear we saw up close and personal was at Yellowstone National Park back in 1992.

Later this evening our daughter was returning home from the doggie park (or as my older sister calls it, "the bark park"). She turned the corner 1/2 mile from our house and thought she saw a small dog running around. Nope...another bear. How freaky is that? Two bears in two different locations spotted by three different members of one family in the same day. What are the odds?

The Nephew's Wedding

My nephew, Joel, got married last weekend. A fine young man, he found a wonderful woman to marry through an online dating site of all places. This one worked out great. They already had a lot in common by the time they met and their love grew from there. They were married at a charming B & B in a small town in NC. Everyone looked fabulous...bride, groom, wedding party, parents and grandparents. It was a terrific event AND they had a delicious sit down dinner to boot. Unfortunately we had to return home because we all had work on Monday, so we had to leave early. Our daughter informed us that for the next wedding we had to work it out so we could stay for the party. She was grossly disappointed to miss the dancing and fun that followed the wedding and dinner. Congratulations to the love birds. May they be as happy as their parents, who just passed 37 years of wedded bliss, have been.

The Grade...drum roll please

I got an A for the computer course I took at the community college. Yay. Now, if my workplace only provided for tuition reimbursement...

Mother's Day

I grew up with parents who didn't believe in celebrating Mother's Day or Father's Day. My parents called them Hallmark Holidays. They contended that to be honored on a day because a greeting card company decided you needed to wasn't really an honor. My husband, on the other hand, was raised in a family that embraced all holidays, including Mother's Day and Father's Day and even birthdays came with streamers and balloons no matter how old you got.
When you marry you blend families and traditions. So, now I celebrate Mother's Day. We don't make a big deal out of it. I sometimes get breakfast in bed...which is a nice gesture but I don't really get. Sure, it's nice to be waited on, but it's just a little weird to be sitting alone in the bedroom eating eggs while my husband and daughter were giggling at the breakfast table. So, I put an end to that tradition. We do flowers from the yard - our iris are in bloom and are a lovely shade of lavendar. We do cards, usually amusing rather than heartfelt. And we do dinner - usually something on the grill. We try to get out and do something as a family. Today it was church and a little kayaking. All in all it's a nice day. I figure if celebrating a Hallmark Holiday gets me a free meal and a night off from doing dishes, then it's worth it.
Happy Mother's day to all of you who got the dishes washed for you tonight, too.

Sun Break

When we lived in Seattle there were some interesting phrases used by the weather folk on TV one of which was sun break. Considering the Seattle-like weather we've had over the past ten days I figured it would be appropriate to use a Seattle weather phrase. We had enough of a sun break that I was able to get the grass mowed. Yay. I'm not normally this anal about short grass, but when it's so high you can hide small children in it, it's way beyond time. Besides, the longer the grass the more likely the dog is to bring ticks and other such nasties into the house. So, we are freshly shorn and it should only be about 5 more days before it needs it again. I also got to inventory the plants. All the flowering trees have lost their blooms and are thick with green leaves. The azaleas are starting to fade, but the peonies and iris are growing like mad. We have one bed of purple iris in full bloom and other beds in various stages of blooming. We should have some nice color for another month or so.

Also went and bought some veggies to plant in the garden. Will try to get those in later today or tomorrow. Got a yellow cherry tomato, a big red tomato, a green and a red pepper, yellow squash and cucumbers to plant. Picked up some herb seeds last week, so will attempt some oregano, chives, basil and such. I think I just planted gazpacho...I'm not a real big fan of that dish, but I can think of lots of other things to do with fresh veggies. Now if I can just manage to keep the deer and the bunnies out of the garden...

Final Exam-check!

Took my final exam in the computer class tonight. Got a 98. Should've been 100! Am keeping my fingers crossed that I pull an A. Enjoyed learning more basics about computers and learning to work the MS 2007 apps. One of our projects was to create a web page. Let me see if I can post the link. Don't know how long it will be active, but let's give it a try. http://pvstudent01.pvcc.edu/~lwsp9301/
Now, for a little relaxation. Looking at taking another class in the fall, but will take the summer off. Have to pace myself.