turtles, cool basements, johnny jump-ups, driveway fill, more..
Hello all,
…just a bit of blather
HOT week here in Charlottesville VA — nearly 100 degrees — the first week of June!!!
This past week my brother Scott visited for one short overnight — good to see him. We went for a walk and saw two box turtles! I like turtles, and hadn’t seen them here on our property before; nice! He is an artist, a sculptor and landscape artist (among many other talents) — and brought us a gift of a nice piece of driftwood to add to our collection! He shared photos of his most recent creation — a driftwood gargoyle in the pose of “the Thinker” — fun!
Scott watched all five of my storytelling tapes — and enjoyed them — offering appreciated positive feedback! [see http://tales-around-the-world.blogspot.com ]
Today my husband and I cleaned the basement — cool there! — and rearranged furniture, moved the ping pong table (and played a few games), fixed the problem with our air conditioner (there was a mini flood in the basement because the ‘pump’? that drains away the excess water ‘died’ — he replaced with a new one ($48) and all seems well now.
We also drove to Luckstone’s Rock Quarry and bought some crusher run — filled in a few holes in our driveway (and anonymously filled a few holes in the parking lot where I park when teaching — a thank you for the use of their inside classroom space and the use of the paring lot).
Stopping at a new landscape/garden center, we purchased johnny jump up seeds and basil seeds and mini bok choy seeds — and a new plant — (forget the name here now; will try to post it later).
Ate a midday meal at a nice Thai restaurant; pleasant meal and service.
Now plowing through paperwork piles!
Had a friend send me Barbara Kingsolver’s graduation speech (Duke U) [http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2008/05/kingsolver.html] and saved text and podcast for possible use with adults I tutor…
*first butter n’ eggs (flowers) bloomed today! Also blooming now are pink evening primrose, clematus, sweet william, snapdragons, flax, heirloom petunias (fragrant!), oak leaf hydrangea, pinks, lilies…
more tomorrow — back to work I go!
