Morning at Lazy T

Peaches

Lazy T

Our church went on our annual pilgrimage to Lazy T last Friday and Saturday. Some friends from nearby and from the west side of the state joined us for sleeping outside (in cabins, a teepee, a pavilion, tents, and a pick-up truck), eating, canoeing, hay-riding, and zip-lining. 

Bulbs

Pop cans

 I don't return pop cans, but Betsy does. Recently she exchanged four boxes full of cans, some of which had been in my garage for years, for twenty-five dollars.

Laundry

The days are getting shorter. The sun had already set by the time I hung my laundry on the line the other day. I'm sure I would have flunked my grandmothers' home economics classes, but I left my towels on the line overnight to dry and, full confession, it was two days later before I got them off the line and another two days before they were folded and put away.

Puppy

Happy dog

Second crop

I am enjoying my fall raspberries.

Enjoying is the right word. Raspberries are near the top of my list of favorite foods (as is true for almost everyone in my family). My enjoyment stems partly from the taste, but a portion probably comes from the memories that I associate with the juicy morsels. My grandparents had a raspberry patch at the back of their lot and I grew up picking berries with my mom, grandparents, aunt and uncles. 

Sunflowers

 I volunteered for the very enjoyable task of purchasing flowers to use as centerpieces at our matriculation banquet.

Foggy sunrise

Della

Libby's little puppy is quite the cutie. 

Steps

Dahlia

Bonfire

Power out

Honey-mustard grilled chicken

 Last night I tried a recipe from All Recipes for Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken. But, I didn't have Dijon mustard, so I used some regular mustard and some Sweet & Tangy mustard that I had in the fridge. I substituted raw honey for the honey, and I didn't have any steak sauce so I just splashed in some Worcestershire sauce. I did have mayonnaise, though. Also, I didn't really measure anything. I just dumped it in a bowl and whisked it together. Also, I sliced the chicken breasts in half so that they would cook faster. 

Logan grilled the chicken, except that, despite being cut in half, the breasts didn't cook because the grill wasn't hot enough. So, after waiting around for awhile, Libby took it inside and pan-fried it on the stove. It still had some grilled flavor, though, since it had been on the grill.

Other than that, we followed the recipe.

Big Boy

 According to Logan, Big Boy isn't as big as he used to be.

Dishes

 I returned home late and exhausted every evening the week before classes began. My counter was piling up with dirty dishes. I came home one evening to find all my dishes washed--Libby had been over and had cleaned up my kitchen for me.  

Puppy

 Libby brought home an eight-week-old, female, collie-lab puppy on Saturday.

Spider flowers

Farmyard

Shootin' the breeze

A day...

It's the second week of the semester and it's starting to quiet down in our office, though I still have plenty to do. Here are some of the tasks I accomplished yesterday.

• Met for weekly prayer for our students and the program
• Checked in with the director and secretary
• Sat in on goal meetings with two full-time teachers
• Reserved a classroom for a teacher to use for a tutorial
• Chatted with our newest full-time teacher
• Talked with a teacher about students who were dropped for non-payment and students who wanted to grieve their class placement
• Admired Brian's diploma, when he stopped by after picking it up from the Registrar's office
• Wrote two (of four) role-play scenarios for the full-time staff retreat on Friday
• Printed fliers for a photo contest
• Dropped in the tutoring room to make sure everything was ready for the first day of tutoring and open lab; reminded the tutors to put the sign in the hallway outside the lab
• Checked with the secretary on the status of a student who still needed to be registered for classes
• Wrote an email to teachers regarding a student who moved levels
• Visited five classrooms to tell students about free tutoring and an upcoming photo contest
• Checked on a student who a teacher reported as not attending class; tracked down the reason why he didn't appear on the placement testing roster
• Met Betsy for lunch and went on a bike ride in the sweltering heat
• Sent an email to my "International Friends and Family" student
• Tasked tutors with checking the bookshelf in the tutoring room to make sure it contained the current textbooks
• Sent emails to students after they failed to show up for a tutorial
• Advised our secretary about how to proceed with invitations for a banquet for matriculating students
• Checked on the cost of transportation to Seattle in March
• Wrote a sticky note reminding myself to return a library book tomorrow
• Talked on the phone with the teacher whose students failed to show up for a tutorial; set an appointment to meet with them the next day
• Wrote a note reminding myself to contact the coordinator of the TESOL certificate program to finalize classroom placements for practicum students
• Organized my piles of papers and sticky notes to work on the next day

Smiles

Harvest

Low Country Boil

While everyone was around last month, Judith, assisted by Kathryn, made a Low Country Boil. We didn't need any serving dishes, plates or forks. The corn, potatoes, shrimp and sausage were arranged in the middle of the table and everyone helped themselves using their hands.  

View

Kittens

Indian food

Morning