Back from Florida

Had a great time watching Keaton and McKenna for four days, but boy do I need some rest! They were very good, but require an energy level I'm not used to. On the bottom pic I think Keaton is saying, "When are my mom and dad coming home!"

M, M & I loved having Kelly with us for a night. Hopefully we'll be on a regular stop schedule.

I don't feel retired yet! I think I'm as busy as ever. Leisurely sewing is not happening. Maybe someday soon. Hopefully I'll be tutoring two days a week, but grant money has not come in yet.

I think I mentioned that Matthew will be going to China 11-27 to 12-9 for the culmination of his Master's. Well, I left Brad alone with them while I was gone and it seems he decided we should go too. Melissa wasn't going to go, but said she would if we did. We'll see if we can get all the vaccinations, etc. in time....we should know in the next few weeks. Brad definitely has to keep working now.

Loved your house Phil. You should paint it adobe color or pink!

Diana

Atlanta and Knoxville

Had a nice visit with Diana, Mathew and Melissa in Atlanta. I am now in Knoxville with Emily, David and Otis. Emily is starting school and getting ready for a big show at the Knoxville museum of Art--seeing eye alligators.

Pictures of my room

I still have some things to put away but . . .

Alice's Restaurant

In my journeys, I met this couple just outside Durango... a true mom and pop stopover. She was Alice so....

They worked three months feeding folks in Lake Charles after Rita... soo guess why I took their photo...

The Mountains and Montrose: Moving but staying still

This is my bungalow to be I hope. The back yard has a porch and garden and there is a park across the street.

I hope to make it cozy even though it is small. But it does have some potential.

If all goes well I will be in By Sept. 3 or sooner, just in time for Jeff's Sept. 6 visit.

The daybed is not in the living room!

I moved the daybed into my back room last night. It is funny how much it had been bothering me and I had set a goal to get it out of the living room one way or another. My room is a functioning room. Tonight I will clear off the top of the desk and arrange a few more things, then take pictures.

My new students are coming in now and it is really busy at work, but interesting. I had to ask my new students if they were vegetarian and I had one respond that it did not matter because it was Ramadan and they would be fasting during the day. It was a good reminder. I'm not very good about keeping up with religious holidays. I mean, I know when Christmas is. The stores keep me informed that it is a five month holiday that starts about now. I had my first Christmas aisle sighting last weekend.

Happy Thursday.

Here that lonesome train a'coming

I took the old No. 18 up to a country/folk concert with the Old/New Weavers... some were new Weavers but two played with Pete Seeger. So it was folk song weekend. The best song of the day was This Land is Your Land. Another was Michael Smith who wrote The Dutchman, a song I ahd not heard till recently but s pretty well known in most circles. We did see interesting sites and long grades. I felt that choo, choo sound and rhythm again.

By the way, we road this train for 2.5 hours into the mountains to Fir, Co. for the concert. So it was a 'fir piece...."The only thing in Fir is a concert stage and some elk. It is at 12,000 ft. or so. Some musicians have to take oxygen to keep playing.
We also saw a double rainbow... see above. It is the first time I actually saw where the rainbow ended... but alas the gold is still in the rocks.

Kelly and Kathryn, I liked it but envy your experience too.

Joan Baez

Great show here on Thursday night... looked good, sounded good, seemed to enjoy herself. She played for two hours with out a break...favorite songs, Gospel ship, Diamonds and Rust and Deportee (dusted off theWoody Guthrie classic in the most relevant way). Her band mates, Dirk Powell from Breaux Bridge and John Doyle were also worth the cost of admission. Saw all the old timers from Baton Rouge but they had all gained weight lost hair and grayed-who knew. We did not notice any strange smells though because of the strict ban on indoor smoking.