Ed's Birthday

Last night (9-11-09) Ed and I went to dinner in Ruidoso with two of our friends, Jack and Linda Greene, to celebrate Ed's and Linda's birthdays. Hers was Sept. 7. It was a really nice dinner, beginning with champagne to make the night a little more festive, telephone calls from both Stephanie and Meaghan, and ending with shared desserts on which I put candles. At least 9/11 can be a happy day.

Our Fawn

Ed looked out the office window at home today and saw this little fawn in the tall grass just enjoying himself.

Cool Displays at Anthropologie

Ed & I went to Albuquerque on Sunday after church for a quick get-away and stayed at ABQ Uptown. We always like to browse through the nearby stores, especially Anthropologie to see what cool displays someone has created. Here's a "fireplace" that greeted us as we entered:As you can see, it was actually yellow drawing pencils and stacked wood. They always have unusual "chandeliers" as well...this one is cut twigs on dowel rods.

Go Tigers!

Wednesday was the first day of school for Capitan High students, so we had an end-of-the-day pep assembly which was great. At the end the football coach had each player take off his jersey and give it to a teacher to wear the next day. They were told to find a teacher reasonably the same size as they were. Well, all of a sudden this cute little skinny freshman that I've known from church since he was 5 appeared grinning before me with his jersey. I was flattered that he considered me his size, but actually, it wasn't too bad except that it went below my knees and had to be bunched up around my hips. On Thursday, you should have seen all the jersey-clad high school teachers trying to suck in the old gut!

The Upside of Living on a Mountainside...

I went back to school today (no students, just in-service), and Ed worked at the golf course. At the end of our day we were having a glass of wine on the deck, enjoying the 70 degree weather and good conversation when I noticed these visitors just beyond our cars....an 8-point buck and a doe. Living in the mountains is absolutely wonderful, and we thank God constantly for putting us here.

When you live on the side of a mountain...

...you expect to have rocks. However, today when Ed was tilling the side flowerbed and hit a rock, he was shocked that he couldn't dig it up easily. He finally got enough of it uncovered to attach a rope to it and pull it out using his SUV. Look how big that thing was!

The World As Seen by a 3-Year-Old

One day last week I let Jackson have my camera. He took pictures of everything, most of which was undistinguishable so I deleted them. Then a couple of days later I let him have it again, and he did much better. He took pictures of things that were important to him and things that were just in his range of vision (which is totally different when seen from a 3-year-old's perspective). Here's what Jackson saw: His toys (bouncy ball, truck, "friends," golf ball)

He also included himself and his surroundings: (his reflection in the door, his feet with his Mador shoes, Mickey Mouse on the TV, flowers on Nana Jo & Grampa's deck, the wheel of his daddy's car, the mailboxes at Mamaw's house, and a fence [when he took this one he said, "Say cheese, Fence" like any good photographer would do!])Jackson also took pictures of the people he is close to. Remember that you are seeing these "tall" people from the eyes of a 3-year-old, so be impressed with how well he did and remember to squat down occasionally from now on!