Céad Míle Fáilte!   (A hundred thousand welcomes)

                                 I’m HOME from Ireland!!

What a fantastic trip!  I took LOTS of pictures, so I will select just a few to share with you over the next several days.  Here are some of my favorites from Dublin, where we spent the first three days of the trip.

Here is the B & B we stayed at just outside of Dublin, in a town called Clontarf.  We didn’t stay right in the heart of Dublin because our boys were performing in Clontarf and we thought it might be less crowded out there.  We were right.  The lodge we stayed at was called the Kincora Lodge, and it was in a nice quiet neighborhood.  There are very few single family homes in Dublin, almost all the homes we saw were row houses, apartments or double homes.  Our host, Paul, was very gracious and helpful.  Our room was cozy, clean and comfortable.  We had the room on the first floor, with the windows facing the front…you can see them to the left of the door in this picture (behind the tree)

The homes in Ireland often have small yards FILLED with flowers, our lodge was no exception.

Doesn’t the palm tree look just a little incongruous?  I never pictured palm trees in Ireland, but there are lots of them!  After thinking about it, I realized it’s not so unusual, as they have a very moderate climate.  Speaking of climate, it was rather cool almost the whole time we were there, we only had lots of sun and warm temps for our last two days.

Here I am with my friend Terry and her Mom, Shirley, who were my travelling companions for the trip.  This was taken at the restaurant we ate at on our first night in Ireland…it was, of all things, a CHINESE restaurant!  (And a very good one!)

We chose this restaurant because we wanted a place within walking distance of our B & B.  This was just a few blocks away, but it was down a back alley and up two flights of stairs!  It all felt very clandestine, and we weren’t sure what we were getting ourselves into, but as I said, it was very good.  They even gave us all a glass of Bailey’s on the house after dinner!

The next day we went into Dublin and saw the boys sing at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  What a beautiful building, and the acoustics were outstanding.  Here is a picture of the interior of the church, and another of the choir singing there.

Here I am with my two choirboys after they finished performing their beautiful music….do I look proud and happy, or what?

After the concert (it was at 12:30 in the afternoon) we wandered around Dublin taking in sights and shopping .  Our wanderings took us past a theater where “Riverdance” was being performed, and on a whim, we decided to stop in and see if they had tickets available for that evening’s performance….they did, and so we went!  It was awesome!  I had seen Riverdance about 7 years ago when the show came to Minneapolis, but this was better…probably just because of the idea of seeing it performed IN Ireland. 

The next day found us taking the bus into downtown Dublin again, for more shopping and sightseeing.  Here are some of the sights we saw!

The buildings in Ireland are very often painted in bright colors, I expect to offset the frequent drab, dreary weather they have to endure.  Irish people are very cheerful and friendly, so their buildings reflect their personalities.

Even when they are not brightly painted, the buildings are attractive and adorned with flowers.

Here is arguably the most famous pub in all of Dublin — the Temple Bar (we didn’t go there, except to take a picture –wrong time of day for us, LOL!)

As we made out way towards St. Stephen’s Green, we walked down Grafton Street, which is the main shopping street in Dublin.  It was full of shops and street performers.  Here is one of them, playing –yes — the bagpipe!

Oh yes, I can’t forget the many statues and monuments in the city either.  Here is one at the O’Connell Street Bridge…don’t know who this bloke is, for sure, or what he is famous for…my guess is he might be O’Connell himself, but I still don’t know what he is famous for…probably a politician or military officer, they seem to get all the statues!

Finally we made it onto our Dublin City tour.  We were on the “Viking Splash” tour (we thought it appropriate, since we are from Minnesota — Minnesota Vikings…).  The tour vehicle was an old “duck” boat that has been around since WWII.  It is an amphibious vehicle, so part of the tour was on water and part on land.  The tour guide was a fiery redheaded “Viking maiden”, and she was hilarious!  Perfect for the part.  We went around surprising unsuspecting pedestrians with a ferocious Viking ROAR that she taught us…great fun and frivolity!  Did you know that the Vikings actually founded the city of Dublin?  Most of what you hear about the Vikings is true, all the raiding and pillaging and uncivilized behavior, but it is not true that they had horn on their helmets…that was a myth that was developed to “demonize” them by the cultures they attacked (like the Celts — who were also very ferocious and war-like, but they warred mainly among themselves so have a less aggresive reputation).  However, the fact that it is myth does not keep the tour from exploiting the stereotype…notice in this picture it looks as if Shirley has horns growing out of her head !

Our stay in Dublin was capped off by another Land of Lakes Choirboys concert.  This was the one in the “suburb” we were staying in.  The boys had been staying with host families from this church.  The church is also affiliated with a private school, so the families all had children that attended the school.  Apparently the girls from the school all developed quite a liking for the American boys!  You can see a group of them sitting in the front row in this picture….there were even more than you can see in this shot.  Our boys have an Irish fan club! 

Okay, that is it for today.  Tomorrow I will take you to the Isle of Man!

Oh…my new background picture is one I took from the plane as we were landing at the Dublin airport…the green Irish hills!

                          As they say in Ireland….”Sláinte!“ 

 (roughly pronounced as if you quickly slurred: “It’s a lawn chair!”)
                                       

                          “To Your Health!”    ~~~Leah~~~   

60 hours and counting until take-off to Ireland!

This morning – babysit my neighbor’s two youngest kids this morning.  Their Mom and Dad are gone to Milwaukee with the oldest brother to register for college classes.  Next oldest brother is at the dentist, one older sister is at marching band practice and the next oldest sister slept over at a friend’s house, so the 10 and 8 year old need some “supervision” –  ummm, that would be me.  I’ll clean the house (not completely, but as much as I can get done) while they are here.  They will be good companionship for Isaac – hopefully keep him occupied so that he doesn’t make any of his notorious messes!

This afternoon – work at hubby’s office.  I have to try to get all my work done today, since I will be gone (yay!) all week next week!  Got to make sure all of the bills are paid, the accounts are balanced and entered into the computer – ugh, I really don’t enjoy this job, but when hubby says “I really need you to take on this responsibility” who am I to say “No”?

Tonight – book club.  We will be discussing Midwives and getting our next selection.  I think we finally are getting The Secret Life of Bees – we have been on the waiting list for it for over two months!  I look forward to a nice evening with my girlfriends.  I might have to go back to the office after book club since I anticipate having more work than I can get done in one afternoon.  So I may be at the office until the wee hours of the morning!  (More UGH).

Tomorrow –  State track meet.  Fortunately it is being held in a location only ½ hour’s drive from home.  Well – maybe not so fortunate.  If it was further away I might not feel compelled to go and watch my oldest son’s girlfriend compete, but since it is so close you can’t keep me away!  She is entered in 3 events, but I will only be able to see two of them – the ones she will be competing in on Friday.  She will be running in the 100 meter dash and jumping long jump.  She has a good shot at medalling in the long jump, seeing as how she has the longest jump in the state (by far) this year!  She has jumped 18 feet, 6 1/4 inches, and she has been close to that length at least 3 or 4 other jumps this season.  No other long jumpers in the state (girls) have approached those distances this year.  I hope she has a good day tomorrow, it would be so wonderful for her if she is state champ! 

(This is not Jenny, it’s just a picture of some random girl long jumping that I got from  google search…but it sort of looks like her, and it’s appropriate!)

Her chances in the 100 meter dash are not as good.  Two years ago she took 7^{th (or 8th?  I  know she was in the finals)} place in the state in the same event, but she has really focused more on her jumping the past couple of seasons, so even though she took first in the 100M at our section meet, she is up against some pretty stiff statewide competition – but she could pull off another medal if she runs her best race of the year!  Go Jenny!!!!  She will also be running in the 4 x 100 meter relay, but they won’t compete until Saturday, and I don’t think I can make it to any of the events after tomorrow.  I don’t know how this girl finds the energy to do everything that she does.  She just graduated last weekend, she is holding down two jobs, training for the state track meet, and she is vying for the title of our town’s “Ambassador” (they are not “princesses” anymore, they are “ambassadors”…emphasis on the scholarship part of the competition, and the role of representing the community in various public functions around the state).  Her graduation open house is next weekend; I sadly have to miss it because of my trip.  

Saturday –  finish packing and organizing the household before the trip.  My sister is coming up from Iowa to sort of run my household and entertain Isaac during my absence.  With the hours hubby, Kyle and Nathan are putting in on their respective jobs, I couldn’t be sure that one of them would always be available to watch the imp, so she volunteered.  She came up last summer when both hubby and I took our trip to Germany (also to see the boy’s choir) and I think she and Isaac had such a good time she was just itching for another chance to spend some time with him!  She will do her best to spoil him, I’m sure!  And she will cook and do laundry etc. for the rest of the guys.  Thank goodness for that!  Without her I shudder to think what kind of chaos I might come home to after a 10 day absence!  There would be no clean clothes or clean dishes in the house, I am certain, LOL!!!!! 

Saturday afternoon — will find us at three graduation open houses. 

One for our niece who lives in a town about 30 miles south of us, the other two are for kids of our very close friends here at home.  Our niece’s party is scheduled earliest in the day, so we will drive down to her celebration, then come back home for the other two, and then will have to head south again to bring me to the airport.  It would have been more convenient if we could have gone first to the two parties in town, and then stopped by the niece’s on our way to the airport, but we weren’t consulted on when to schedule the various events – hrmph –whyever not, I wonder?!?!?!

And finally, I will be on my way to bonny Ireland!   Could I possibly be more excited?????  I think not! 

My yard/garden is looking so good right now, I thought I’d share a few pictures.  Today is the last day of school.  Grant and Mark leave on their choir tour on Saturday, and I leave for Ireland one week later.  Time is flying by!  Hurray for Summer!

My yard is my haven.  What an absolute joy to have such a place right out my back door.  Yes, it has taken a ton of work, and the maintenance is constant, but it is something I truely enjoy.  I can go out there in any kind of mood and know I will find a measure of quiet.  It’s peaceful and exhilerating at the same time.  I could give up my house easily, but my yard has captured a piece of my soul.

                                Memorial Weekend Pictures!!!!

Here are some pictures of our weekend.  As they say, pictures are worth a thousand words, so I’ll keep the commentary to a minimum.

Fishing was good…not great.  During the day we caught HUGE crappies, bass and sunnies, at night the guys caught northerns, but no walleyes.  Here are Art and Kyle with one of the northerns:

Even fishing from the dock was productive…Kyle is casting for some of those nice crappies here: 

When we were not out fishing, we spent time playing cards and board games, reading (I finished Midwives and Sea Glass…pretty good books, both of them) playing catch or frisbee, and some of our “artists” (Nathan and Isaac) even painted some landscape pictures!  

(The following picture cracks me up.  I told my friends I was going to take their picture and look how they ALL posed!  It was not planned that they all rest their heads on their hands like that, but I think it’s so funny!)

We were on a beautiful lake, one of Minnesotas famous “10,000 lakes”.  The water was crystal clear, but too cold for swimming!  The sunsets were great, and we followed them up with evening campfires.

(This next picture is pretty dark, but I love how you can see the moon in the upper left corner of the sky!)

As I mentioned in my last entry, this is an annual event, complete with awards for the largest fish caught for the weekend (including a traveling trophy!)  We are all “required” to wear our official Memorial Weekend shirts (they have even been embroidered with special names…mine is “Sweetie Pie”).  This year the guys got NEW shirts!  Their old ones were ugly (and yes, the ugly part is intentional) green flowered polo shirts.  The new ones are flourescent yellow long sleeved t-shirts.  You can see both styles in this picture, the new yellow one is being “unveiled”, while the old green style is being worn by Greg, the guy on the right:

Here is the “gang” modeling their new shirts.  A couple of our guys weren’t able to make it up for the weekend this year, so we had to make do with “stand-in’s” for the picture.  Angie is standing (well, not exactly “standing”) in for her hubby (he had to stay home to WORK, but she came up with her three kids and an extra friend of one of the kids anyway) and Mitch (the little guy) is standing in for his Dad’s best friend, Arnie.  Arnie stayed home for his daughter’s graduation (Arnie’s whole family had to miss out on the weekend this year…a graduation on Memorial Day weekend?  What’s up with that?)

And of course, I have to let you see the hideously ugly women’s shirts…they are so awful it’s funny….which is precisely the point!  (And then Anne went and forgot to bring her shirt — I think it might have been on purpose ).

Finally, every year we take some family photos at the end of our fun-filled weekend.  Here I am with my testosterone dominated bunch of boys:

And here are just the boys. Kyle said the sun was in his eyes — or maybe he was just tired!  However, it could also be an inherited tendancy, since if you noticed in the hideous flowered shirt picture above, my eyes were closed as well…and I couldn’t claim the sun in my eyes as an excuse!

All in all, it was another wonderful weekend.  The last night, as I was putting Isaac to bed, he said to me that he wished we could always live at the lake.  I know why he feels that way.  Our whole family was together for the whole weekend, with no other distractions or responsibilities.  It is a wonderful thing just to get to spend un-interrupted time together.  I know it’s important, because even Kyle and Nathan made the time to spend the weekend with the family, when they are at an age that they could easily have had “other” options. I’m glad we are able to take these special times for our family and with our friends.  We have many great memories from the past, and we hope to continue the tradition for years to come!

Memorial Day weekend is here…the official start to summer.  We are heading “up north” for the weekend (that is a common Minnesota expression…up north) for an annual tradition.  Every Memorial Day weekend for the past 15 years has been spent in the company of the same group of college friends.  These are the families of the guys hubby ran with back in the early 80′s…before jobs and families became the focus of life.  Now we are all middle-aged, with responsibilities galore, but whenever we get together we somehow seem to regress back to those youthful, carefree days.  Our kids often shake their heads in disbelief at the goofy way their normally reasonable parents are acting….ESPECIALLY the guys, since they are the ones who initiated this group. Kyle is the oldest of the kids in this group of families, and Isaac is almost the youngest (there is one younger than him) so you have an idea of the range of ages.  There are 7 families, with a total of 23 kids between us!  Getting together with them is almost like going to a family reunion, .  Now if only the weather would cooperate!  We usually only have nice weather about one year out of five…typically the last weekend in May is cool and rainy, consequently we spend a lot of time inside playing cards and putting together puzzles.  The guys always try to get in some fishing, but I don’t care to fish unless it is warm and sunny and I can bring along a good book (just in case the fish aren’t biting!)  However, I will gladly eat any fish they might catch!  (Especially when I don’t have to clean them.)

Speaking of books, I plan to bring three books with me to read this weekend…and I will probably finish them all!  The first is Midwives by Chris Bohjalian.  I’m reading it for my book club.  I’m 1/2 way through it and I like it so far.  The next is Sea Glass by Anita Shreve.  I’ve read several of her other books and enjoyed them, including The Pilot’s Wife, The Weight of Water, The Last Time They Met and Where or When.  Her books are all a bit dark and brooding, filled with complex characters living complicated lives, but I enjoy her writing.  The last book is one I found on clearance at Barnes and Noble, and it is called Night Music by Harrison Gradwell Slater. It is a literary mystery involving a long lost diary that may or may not be the diary of Mozart…from the book jacket it sounds as if it could be similar to The DaVinci Code, minus some of the controversy. 

Well — back to packing!  I just thought I’d give everyone a little tidbit of what is going on in my life.  Life is never boring….sometimes I wish I could say “I’m bored” simply because to be able to say that implies (at least to me) that I have nothing to do, because I’m done with everything.  I can only imagine how relieved I would feel if I was ever able to catch up and have everything DONE for once!  Of course, that will never happen, and if it did it would never last, because the minute I got DONE someone would put dirty clothes in the hamper, or dirty dishes in the sink, or I’d get a phone call from someone needing something or inviting me somewhere, and then I would have something to do again.  Bored is just not a part of my universe!

Once again I am apologizing for not being more attentive to my Xanga site.  I have a feeling the next few months, at least until summer is over, I will have to be fairly sporadic about my posting. 

I have been spending a large amount of time online, but not surfing Xanga for a change.  I have been working on putting together the itinerary for my trip to IRELAND!  Oh, it is so exciting!  Here are some of the places I will be staying and sights I will be seeing:

Well…I am just a “wee bit“ excited, as you might be able to tell!

Top ‘o the mornin’ (or whatever time of day it is where you are right now!)

                                               ~~~Leah~~~

Currently listening to: 

Steal Away, The Land of Lakes Choirboys    

        Pictures from the Choirboy Concert~~Trebby Award presentation

One of my readers asked me if I would be posting any pictures of the Choirboy concert from the weekend before last.  Here they are! I took these pictures with my regular 35mm film camera and when I had them developed I asked for a picture cd, so the quality isn’t as good as when I upload pictures directly from digital, but you’ll still get the idea.

This first picture shows Congressman Mark Kennedy addressing the choir and the audience, congratulating the choir on being awarded the Trebby.  The two individuals on the left are Minnesota representatives who were also part of the award ceremony–Mark Olson and Kathy Tinglestadt.

This picture shows the choir onstage (in background).  The three men in the foreground are the three directors in the Land of Lakes Choirboys organization.  The youngest man, on the left, is our newest director, Associate Conductor Aaron Carpenter.  He is in charge of the training and resident choirs.  The gentleman in the center with the white goatee is the Founding Director, Craig Carmody-Anderson (affectionately known as Andy).  He started the chior in 1976 and directs the Nordic Choir (National touring choir).  The man on the right (who looks like he isn’t paying attention) is  Artistic Director Francis Stockwell.  He directs the Viking Choir (the International touring choir, the one that actually recorded the CD, the one onstage, and the choir which Grant and Mark are members of) and also the Prep choir (for the youngest choirboys, ages 4-7…Isaac might join the prep choir next year).  I took this picture during Congressman Kennedy’s “speech”.

Here is the Congressman shaking hands with the founding director, as he hands over the award.

In this shot, Francis is proudly holding the award up for the choirboys to see.  Mark is the tallest boy in the front row, with glasses, just to the left of the woman with the purple blazer.  Grant is  in the back row,on the far right, (the boy in front of him is just blocking a tiny bit of his face).  The woman in the pink shirt was the “official” photographer.

One of the advantages of being so involved in planning this event was that I got to hold on to the Trebby award for safe-keeping before the ceremony.  I “cheated” a little and took pictures of my favorite choirboys holding the award  !  Here are Mark and Grant, along with another choirboy who lives in the same town that we do.  (We carpool with his family).  Jason (not my son) is on the left, Mark is in the center and Grant is on the right.

Here are Mark and Grant at home holding the Trebby award.  You can get a pretty good look at the award in this picture.  The actual CD and CD cover are mounted in the frame, along with the plaque stating that the Land of Lakes Choirboys were awarded the 2005 International Trebby Award for “Best Choirboy CD”, Steal Away.

Yes, I am proud of these boys.   It was a great accomplishment and honor to receive this award.  They also received a US Congressional Proclamation, and proclamations from the Minnesota State House and Senate, along with a letter of congratulations from the Gov. of MN.  The best thing is – they are just “regular” boys, who happen to have been lucky enough to be given the opportunity to do some amazing things.  I firmly believe that we all have the potential within us to accomplish great things, we just need to look for the opportunities. 

Just a note:  if you click on the link I provided with the CD title at the top of this entry, you will be taken to a page where you can listen to little excerpts from the various CD’s, including Steal Away, of course.  If you use a dial-up modem, you will need to pause the track before it begins to play and give it some time to load up.  If you don’t the sound will come through in a pulsating manner…very annoying!  I recommend listening to the Steal Away CD, the tracks I like best are the first track (haunting unison melody, “Phos Hilaron”…just wow), and “Steal Away”, “How Can I Keep from Singing”, and “Minnesota Morning”.  The Christmas CD is nice as well, Home For Christmas.  Actually, they are all good–listen to whatever you like! 

Happy listening .    ~Leah~

Whew, I’ve been MIA for a long time, and I apologize.  I’ve been having FUN though!  Last weekend was the big Choirboys concert weekend.  The boys had a huge concert on Saturday evening, preceeded by a silent auction (of which I was the main organizer).  We raised over $15,000 at the auction — before expenses…but it’s still more than $3,000 better than what we brought in last year at this same event!  All of the choirs in the organization performed at this concert.  There are six choirs in all…a Prep Choir for boys ages 4-7, and a training choir for boys ages 8 and up who are just joining(the training choir did not perform as all of the boys from this choir had been promoted to the next level).  As they progress in their singing abilities they move up in the choirs in this order:  Performing Choir (performs local concerts), Nordic Choir (performs locally and tours nationally) and Viking Choir (performs locally and tours internationally).  Mark and Grant both sing in the Viking Choir.  It is the choir that earned the Trebby Award for their CD recorded last year called “Steal Away”.  Speaking of the Trebby, it was officially presented to the choir at the concert on Saturday by one of our Minnesota Congressmen, Mark Kennedy. They were also presented with a proclamation signed by the Gov. of MN (Tim Pawlenty).  Each of the boys will get their own copy of the proclamation to keep.

The day after the all-choir concert/award ceremony/silent auction the Viking Choir performed again at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.  They were guest artists with the Minnesota Youth Symphony…another absolutely amazing youth music organization!  They performed selections from Bach’s Cantata BWV 140 and Vivaldi’s Gloria in D Major.  I never get tired of listening to those boys sing!  (Picture is of Orchestra Hall)

My parents were visiting us over the weekend, here to attend the two concerts.  They arrived on Friday around noon and stayed until Monday around noon.  Monday was also my mother’s birthday, so after the kids left for school that morning, I went out for breakfast with my Dad and Mom, in celebration of her special day.  I am so lucky to still have both of my parents around, lucky that they are in relatively good health for their ages (Dad will be 81 in a couple of weeks, and Mom just turned 78), and lucky that we get along so well.  That wasn’t always the case…I was a typical high school teenager, somewhat rebellious and severely resentful of what I considered my “over-protective, ridiculously strict” parents.    I guess I turned out okay anyway .

                         Here they are in Arizona.  They spend about 5 months down there every year.  I guess they like it better than the cold Minnesota winters–go figure!

Since Monday I have been working on some plans for a very exciting trip.  It turns out I am going to get to go to Ireland in June while the Viking Choir is on tour there after all!  I made my plane reservations yesterday, and I have also been working on hotel/Bed & Breakfast reservations.  So far I have my first three nights in Dublin booked.  I will be travelling with another “choir Mom” and her mother.  Yet another choir mom will be meeting us in Dublin, as she grew up there and will be staying with her family during the boys’ tour in Europe.  The choir tours from June 4 – July 6, and they start in Scotland, then head to Ireland and finish up in France and finally Germany.  I will be in Ireland from June 12 ’til June 21, where I will be able to see them sing 4 times (once in St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin!).           

Tomorrow is the big Prom!  Nathan and his girlfriend, Brittany, are going.  They are both juniors, this is the first Prom for each of them.  They make such a cute couple, I really like Brittany.  She is such a genuinely nice, down-to-earth teenage girl.  Nathan can be a little bit of a dreamer, so she helps keep him grounded.                        

Speaking of Nathan, we just found out yesterday that he landed one of the lead roles in the high school musical for next fall!  They are going to be putting on the Cole Porter musical “Anything Goes”.  For anyone familiar with the story, Nate will be playing the role of Sir Evelyn Oakley, a stuffy, eccentric British aristocrat.  It is a very comedic part, which Nate does well…he is also great at accents.  Once when he was still on the wrestling team he decided to go to one of the meets and speak with a British accent the entire time, completely convincing all of the wrestlers from the other teams that he was a foreign exchange student from London!

         Ummmm…Nate’s character would be the nerdy looking one in the underwear .

So…I’m sorry I have been so neglectful of all my wonderful Xanga friends, but the “REAL” world has been calling me, and I cannot ignore it—why would I want to?  It really is a wonderful life!    

It is only by introducing the young to great literature, drama and music, and to the excitement of great science that we open to them the possibilities that lie within the human spirit — enable them to see visions and dream dreams. 
                                –Eric Anderson– 

April Mayhem

That pretty much sums up my life right now.  Between school activities (concerts, play try-outs, National Honor Society ceremonies, Prom, MN comprehensive testing, play practice, track meets, teacher appreciation brunch,etc.) and church activities (teaching Sunday School, choir, youth group, fundraisers, etc.) choirboy activities (practice, concerts, silent auction, garage sale, preparing for tour, more concerts, voice lessons, etc.) and life activities (book club, making time for friends and family, cooking, reading, cleaning, shopping, gardening, dog grooming appointments, trips to urgent-care for strep testing, working, knee MRI’s, possible knee surgery, laundry, paying bills, dealing with fender-benders, Xanga-ing, etc.) things can be just a little hectic.  I always think it’s going to “get better” but it never does…the mayhem just shifts from season to season.  From now until the end of the school year is a particularly busy time, however.   It’s a good kind of mayhem, though (well, mostly…strep tests [Nathan], knee problems [hubby] and fender benders [Kyle] don’t quite get a good rating).   I may not be around as regularly in the next couple of weeks.  I’ll miss you all!  I’ll be here when I can be!

Life is a glass given to us to fill; a busy life is filling it with as much as it can hold; a hurried life has had more poured into it than it can contain.
~ William A. Brown

My goal is to be busy, but never hurried

                                                            ~~Leah~~