Foggy Morn

The reason Laura and Paul hadn’t left is because Laura was dumping fuel into to the van. Four five gallon containers take a few minutes to empty. Adam was asleep at the table within about five minutes of arrival and moved to one of the couches before I was done with my shower. He slept for close to six hours while Ryan played with the boys.

I took the papers I needed to up to the college and dropped a book off at the library and went to Walmart. I got three quarts of cream (guess what for?), some allergy meds and Yorks (they work well for bribery purposes). Then I went to the garden center and got two bags of top soil, two bags of manure and three bags of potting soil for Daniel’s grave site. Yesterday I went down and pulled a few of the few weeds that are growing where I plan to plant things. Today I plan on attacking the area with a hoe and possibly a spade before I put slate around the edge and dump the bags. Then I’ll probably mix everything up well and call it day. Monday I will most likely plant things although I’m not entirely sure what yet.

As you might imagine, as we near the first anniversary of the accident, my thoughts turn to Daniel very often, almost continually. Some of the parents and grandparents who attend the Carriage House groups say that the second year can be more difficult than the first. The first year is hard, as some of you know, because everything is a first—the first Christmas without Daniel, the first time we went to Comet Pond without Daniel, the first Easter without Daniel, the first July 4^th without Daniel, etc. Not having been through the second year, I am not sure what it will be like but it seems like a year is such a short amount of time and yet it is a year. What will it be like to face the second Christmas without Daniel?

Earlier, when I took the dogs out for their morning walk, it was quite foggy. We saw some very interesting spider webs. The fact that one of them had snail trails in it attests to the strength of these things. Just amazing. By the time I went out to milk the goats, the fog had pretty much burnt off (but only because there was a pretty good time-lapse due to the fact that none of the dishes I use for milking and straining had been washed [including a jar]).

Laura is gone this morning on a temple trip. She was picked up at 5:30. There is a YSA (young single adult) tubing activity this afternoon I believe she is planning on going to as well. Adam was going to but we’re scheduled for a pretty good thunder storm at that time and someone is moving that he’ll probably help with. Nick hasn’t come over for a while. Paul is taking off to go to an estate sale. They’ve got a grill he’d like to get if it’s good as well as some earthenware bowls (like the ones I remember Grandma and my mom having [I had one of my mom’s for a while but it broke]). He is also taking Cedric with him because the boy has outgrown his Sunday shoes. Joanna has work this afternoon. Other than that, we’ll just be home doing things that need to be done.

Yesterday I went through all the books we have in buckets in the barn looking for math and reading books for Seth and Joseph. The ubiquitous ‘they’ at school wanted Seth to do summer school in order that he wouldn’t backslide but I figured I could do as good a job as ‘they’ could so I finally got the stuff out. We’ll only have about four weeks before school starts but I figure that since homeshool is usually better (in that more can be accomplished in a shorter amount of time), that will be long enough. I think the program ‘they’ wanted Seth to do was only six (but may have been eight) weeks long anyway. All I’m going to do is have him do for math is some Calvert workbook pages (which he has already let me know will be FUN!) and read books that I pick for him. Joseph is going to work on more but it will be pretty easy. I think he will find that he knows more than he thinks he does. He and Ryan were reading a couple of the books to me yesterday. Ryan knows all the letters and most of the sounds (he knows the primary sound for every letter and quite a few secondaries as well) but he doesn’t quite grasp how to sound out the words yet (and he won’t be four until Monday). Joseph knows all the letters and sounds and does know how to sound out the words—he just needs a LOT of practice. That and some cool Calvert math and he’ll be set.

AD, I agree about weekends getting busy. Even though I don’t think it is going to be a busy day, it will be. Life’s funny that way, isn’t it? How is that book you’ve been reading? The book I returned to the library yesterday was Falls the Shadow which is about Simon de Montfort the Earl of Leicester, Llewellyn ab Gruffydd the Prince of Wales and King Henry of England and his son Edward. Simon is often credited as the father of democratic government. I don’t believe he truly is but he pushed it for England for the last probably 30 years of his life. Simon was married to Nell, Henry’s sister and Llewellyn’s grandfather, Llewellyn Fawr, was married to their older half-sister Joanna. He eventually marries Simon and Nell’s daughter, Ellen. What a mess was nobility, eh? Anyway, Simon’s last battle was in Evesham and he was brutally murdered and his body desecrated (it was war, after all). This happened on August 4, 1265, seven hundred forty-six years and 363 days before Daniel died. Why do I mention this? I’m not sure. I love that period of history and it’s interesting, perhaps, that more than 700 years ago, a family was experiencing some of the same emotions we are today. It’s a common thread.

Mom, how is everything shaping up for moving? I know you had almost everything already packed when we were ‘talking’ via Facebook the other day. That has got to be a lot of fun and somewhat trying on the patience.

Becky, are you back from girls camp yet? I think Jay has been having too much fun without you in the kitchen.

Well, one and all, it is time for me to be out and doing. Have a wonderful Saturday.

Down toward the creek.
Fruit trees to the right.

The back field from near the barn.
You can see Scooters tail at the bottom.
Also, the rock to the left shows up later.

One of myriad low-lying webs.

One of the orb webs.

A better view of an orb web.
Very cool.

This is the one with snail trails.
It is on the other side of the rock (the side you see in the second picture) below.

Rock surrounded by webs.

The sun shining brightly.

Somewhere out there is a sail boat.

Fog through the trees.

Sun again (could you tell?)

And the petunias.