Day 29: Chicken Stir Fry

Keith made a delicious dinner tonight -- Chicken Stir Fry with broccoli, celery, water chestnuts, almonds, bell peppers, mushrooms, in a wonderful sauce, all over brown rice. I'm so glad that my husband can cook so well.

Day 28: A Teacher's Work Is Never Done.....

Somehow, I always seem to procrastinate and find myself grading essays the night before Class Day (our homeschool co-op). Teaching two writing classes (and grading all those essays) definitely takes time. And Patience, in large doses.

Day 27: "Up a Tree" by Guest Photographer T

When T spied a gray tree squirrel in the yard, he was out the door, camera in hand. Bushy-tailed fellows are rare in our yard as we are usually overrun by ground squirrels. T took several photos and asked me to post this one, his favorite. I liked a couple of other photos better, but he insisted on my posting this one.

Day 26: Hail, Yes!

We woke to some fairly extreme weather this morning. Our front lawn and the meadow appeared to be covered in light snow at first glance, but upon further bleary-eyed examination, we determined that the white stuff was not snow but very fine hail. It melted and then later in the morning we received another hail-masquerading-as-snow deluge.

Day 25: A Stormy Sunset

On Sunday afternoon I saw the fiery sunset in my rearview mirror as I drove up the mountain. I pulled off at the ViewPoint and braved some chilling winds to take a few photos of the sun beaming beneath the low clouds. Beautiful!

Day 24: Clouds over the Mountains

Being "4000 Feet Above Care" (our town's motto) means that we often get amazing clouds piling up on our western slopes. When the sun sparkles through them, it's often stunning.

Day 23: Winter Sunset

One of my favorite things about living in the mountains is the glorious sunsets we see from our very own front porch, looking across a wide-open meadow to the hills surrounding our little town.

Day 22: Children of the World Choir

Last night the Children of the World choir performed at Lake Murray. Last year they brought kids from several countries such as India, China, the Philippines, and different African countries. Only children from the Kampala region of Uganda were in the choir this time, and we really enjoyed watching and hearing them dance and sing praise songs and learning their stories. All have lost one parent to AIDS, some of them both parents. The ones who lost only one parent were often abandoned. You can read more about the amazing choir and the incredible kids (E is pictured above with two of them) and their organization that houses, feeds, and educates orphaned and abandoned children around the world by clicking here: Children of Hope. I will write more about it on my regular blog: Meditative Meanderings.

Day 21: Dash the Player

Dash our dachshund is simply adorable. Here he is double-playing: chewing on his bone and playing "soccer" with his tennis ball, batting it back and forth between his front paws. How he manages to do both at the same time, I don't know. But it's the cutest thing!

(And definitely FAR cuter than my bizarre kitchen carpeting. Yes, kitchen *carpeting.* Long story about why it's still here after we've lived here for over seven years.)

Day 20: Exercise????

With my chronic pain issues, I have to be extremely careful while trying to exercise or I can end up on the couch for at least a day. I have started at five minutes a day and have slowly worked up to 13 minutes a day right now ... about two miles, burning approximately 100 calories. I have a lovely view of pines and oaks while pedaling in our screened-in patio next to my jacuzzi, and I usually read so I don't focus on the additional pain. The steroids I've been on for the past couple of years for my autoimmune issues have added quite a bit of weight, and I want my size 6 body back, besides desiring to strengthen my sometimes wobbly legs.