Audience

"What? I might like salads, too. Try me." 

--Ginger B. Barlow

Dragonflies, bats, and flowers

One of the classroom assistants at the school gave me a tray of  rooted gardenia cuttings on the last day before summer break. They're very small yet, so they're still in the tray they came in, sitting in filtered sunlight on the back porch. This morning a single, perfect gardenia blossom had appeared. It smells like heaven.

The Brandywine tomato plants also have a few tiny yellow flowers, but they seem disinclined to actually turn into fruit. I remembered why I always got so frustrated growing them in the past; even when the weather is tomato-growing perfect (as it's been here for the past week or two), and even when the plants themselves are huge and green and healthy, they're stingy with their flowers and slow to set fruit. I won't be growing them again, no matter how good they taste. It's just not worth it.

Last night as we sat out on the porch enjoying the pearly-pink sunset and the unseasonably cool, pleasant weather, I noticed bats flying in curlicues in the air above our driveway. When I stepped outside to get a better look, I discovered that there were only three bats, but several large dragonflies were joining in with them in their sunset sky dance. Despite being less than 100 yards from the creek, we've seen very, very few mosquitoes at this house. I suppose the bats and dragonflies have a feast of them every evening in the summertime.

And have you ever noticed that dragonflies are companionable little creatures? They always seem to hover close when you're outside. Just this morning I was sitting in the back yard soaking up a little sun, and a dragonfly landed on my big toe and stayed there for a minute or two. What friendly little animals! 

Ah, June.

Talking to a bird (and a special day)

I was going to write about my wedding anniversary today, but we're putting off our celebration until we go to the mountains for our niece's wedding later this month. Gregg has to work today, and Wednesdays are his long days so he won't be home until at least 7pm tonight. We'd have been celebrating late in any event. But I do feel so very fortunate to be so happily married, 13 years today, to a good man, and usual I want to wish him a very happy anniversary here on the blog! :)

Instead of writing about all that, though, I thought I'd share a video I uploaded to YouTube this morning. Marco was in the mood to talk and I actually got him on film saying some of his catch phrases to me. Several of you have expressed interest in hearing him speak, so turn up the volume and listen carefully to this:

Have a good day, everyone!

Wedding season

We've been invited to three weddings so far this year, more than in all the years we've been a couple combined. Two are on the same date, June 22. The first (and the one we're attending) is our lovely niece Melissa's. The other is the music teacher at the school where I work, a young guy I get along well with and so he surprised me with a "save the date" card followed by an actual invitation. That was really nice of him because I don't have the impression he invited very many of our coworkers. Of course I had to decline since he picked the same day as Melissa, but he understood. 

I had to talk Gregg into going to the wedding. He's really introverted and hates big social events to begin with, and then it's going to cost us a nice chunk of money to attend. The venue is a 6 hour drive away, in the mountains of North Carolina, and requires taking two days off work for him. Then there's the cost of the hotel room we booked, and since it's a university town and the height of wedding and graduation season the prices are double what they should be. I have to buy a new dress and shoes (not that I mind that!) and we'll have to get a suit of Gregg's dry cleaned. Thank goodness Martina and/or Marla will be looking after the dogs and Marco while we're gone and we won't have to pay for boarding, but everything else is costly! But, all that being said, it means a lot to Gregg's sister, and her daughter is our favorite niece. We couldn't bear to miss the wedding and let the family down. 

I can't believe that the serious, bookish, introverted little girl I first met almost 20 years ago is going to be married! It makes me a little tearful when I think of it.

One of the bridal portrait photos...her mother sent me this earlier today.

New friends

I've said it here before, I think, but it bears repeating: I'm rich in friendship. When I was in my 20's it seemed difficult to make new friends, but now in my 40s it seems to be a regular occurrence in my life.

This  morning I'm meeting a new friend for coffee, a woman named Norma. I met her at the school last week when she stopped in to pick up her son early for an appointment. She's from Mexico and her English is still rudimentary, so she brought her older son along to help translate. Since I'm trying to learn Spanish, I made an effort to speak it as much as I could, and she tried to hold up her end in English. (The older brother finally grinned and stepped aside and left us to it). Norma speaks English about as well I speak Spanish, which isn't saying a lot (ha!) but we had fun. Before she left she got my whole name, and when I left work that afternoon she had sent me a Facebook friend request. Which led to an hour of messaging back and forth and we've decided to get to know each other and help each other with our language lessons! How cool is that?

I have two Starbucks gift cards so I suggested meet up there this morning and get free drinks. (I don't care for Starbucks, but I appreciate the gift cards which were end-of-the-year presents from a couple of students and their families). Besides learning a new language, we discovered that we share a love of cooking, and last night Norma sent me a picture of the dinner she was making and this sentence, "You will learn to speak Spanish and you will learn to cook Mexican!" which made me laugh right out loud.

I'm looking forward to this new friend! Lucky me.

School's out

Today is the last day of school!

Actually, yesterday was the last day for students. Today is a "teacher's workday" and I'll be answering phones in the front office and cleaning out my desk for the summer. After today, I'm free until August!



In other good news, I'm mostly well again after that awful virus. I still have a little congestion in my chest, but overall I feel human again. About time, too.

Have a great day, everyone!

Random Sunday

I'm still sick. I thought by this point in the weekend I'd feel better, but this cold is fierce and refusing to let up. So in lieu of a real post, here are a couple of pictures and random tidbits.

When I got home from work Friday afternoon this creature was  hanging out in our front yard. It was only a couple of weeks ago that Gregg found a turtle just like this one (maybe the same one) in our driveway and carried him back across the street to the ditch that leads down into the creek. I did the same thing in hopes that it would save it from getting squashed by a car if he headed back across the street on his own. It was about the size of a dinner plate and surprisingly heavy. See him peeking out at me? Pond sliders like this are common sights this time of year.

One of my orchids is reblooming. This is the first time I've ever had one to rebloom. It sure is pretty!

This is my latest Philippa Gregory read. I'm tearing through these novels about those wacky Tudors and Yorks during the Wars of the Roses. It's just like Game of Thrones, only without dragons. Great fun.

My last week of school before the summer break starts tomorrow! Here's hoping I'm over this damn virus by the time Friday gets here.

Summer cold

Two types of cold going on at my house:

1. The a/c is repaired....Hooray!!!! The best thing that's happened around here in weeks.

2. We're both sick with heavy colds. Is there anything more miserable than a cold virus during hot weather? Probably not much.

Yesterday at work I just wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and die. I was miserable, what with sneezing, coughing, sweating, and body aches all while having to put on a pleasant face and run the front office. It was simply awful and the day dragged. I'm hoping today isn't just a repeat of that, but so far this morning I'm not very hopeful. I woke up feeling the same as yesterday.

At least it will be cool and pleasant in the house when I make it back home to collapse on the bed.