What are you doing for fun??

Caryn, great news! Very happy for you!

Karz, love the picture, you look fabulous! 

Shutterbug73, I really like your new avatar, such a beautiful picture of you. So sorry you had to postpone your vacation.

Stefajoy, amazing pictures and you have a beautiful family.

such a great thread. I just love hearing how much fun everyone is having. Steafjoy, great family pictures!! Karz, love the hairstyle. Can't wait til I can do that. My doctor has given me the go-ahead to travel as well as two different antibiotics to take with me in case this first one fails me. She looked me straight in the eye and said "life is short ... Go for it!" She's my primary care physician but we go way back. don't know if I will be able to post pictures or not but you will see them sooner or later. Susan, I love the Orioles but I would guess I've seen more losses over the years I have followed them than wins. It's just such a treat being at the ball park!! See you all in a few weeks! Glenn

Have a blast, Glenn! Sounds fantastic and we want pics.

Stefanie - thanks for the amazing photos of your beautiful family. You all look so happy!

I'm doing part 2 of operation kitten rescue tomorrow...picking up two kittens for Kitten Inn. And running errands and shopping. Oh well! Sunday, I plan to be lazy.

Teacher, congratulations on your birthday, scans and retirement!

My fun of late: Stuck at my desk for the past few days, I've been getting a lot of pleasure from witnessing the action in our suburban backyard, which is adjacent to wooded parkland. Huge robins plunge into the birdbaths, their sloppily enthusiastic flapping splashing out most of the water. Tireless wren parents in search of grubs for their offspring make endless trips back and forth to the houses I placed under the eaves for them. Goldfinches perch picturesquely in the frondy branches of a small Dawn Redwood I've restrained in a container. Hummingbirds pay regular visits to pink and orange hibiscus blossoms. One eccentric squirrel has taken to climbing up on the rim of the pot and chomping on the hibiscus leaves--not the buds, mind you, the leaves!

Lately an adolescent groundhog has been lumbering out of the back garden across the patio, where it stops, sits up on its hind legs, and calmly looks around before proceeding to parts unknown around the side of the house. Chipmunks and squirrels scamper everywhere. Rabbits bounce out of the shrubs to sit calmly in the middle of the weedy lawn, chomping and pooping.

Then there are the white-tailed deer that often hang out just beyond our fence, lounging in a soft pile of leaves and looking longingly at our hostas and daylilies.

It's amazing I get any work done. Really.

Tina

Congratulations and happy (belated) birthday Teacher911!

Tina - beautifully written. I could visualise the life in your back yard. Really made me smile, so thank you!

Thanks for the reminder. It looked good in the reviews and then I plumb forgot about it. Will have to Chappie.

Beautiful photo, Caryn.

Drumbeg Stone Circle in Cork County, Ireland. While the stones are not huge in size, it is the largest number of stones in any of the Druid stone circles in Ireland. Just got back from my trip with a friend trying to cross some things off of her bucket list, and I was thankful I got to cross it off mine as well. .

This 2nd picture is from the Cliffs of Moher, and I think it is one of my favorites. If you ever have the chance, I would strongly recommend a trip to Ireland. It was amazing!

Those pictures are great nbnotes. I cannot imagine how it would feel tostand on those cliffs. Thanks for sharing.

Nbnotes,
Thank you for the pics.when I'm not traveling, I love looking at travel photos of others.

Most people don't consider work to be fun, but as you all know, I adore my work. I have been working like crazy to get my classroom ready for school. We had lots of new tech installed over the summer, so everything was stripped bare in June, then I had to re-do,the whole set up of my room, in a completely different arrangement. Many thanks to my SIL, who did almost everything requiring ladders and placing things in high up locations. Major thanks to one of my grade level team members, JT, who climbed the ladder to put up the letters for my class motto ( Lawson's Lions; Be part of the pride!). And the happy reward for all of this work? Tomorrow, I get to meet 23 happy, nervous, excited and fabulous first graders. And just like them, I am happy, nervous and excited. A new school year is full of possibilities and promise. I am going to have so much fun!

Beautiful pictures Nancy, thanks for sharing. I hope to visit someday.

Caryn, I am so happy to hear you excited. Even though I've just retired I always enjoyed getting my classroom ready and loved the first day. No matter how many years I taught, I never slept the night before. I was always too excited! I think September will be a big transition for me.

KiwiCatMom, Congratulations on your new home. That is very exciting news!

My DH and I enjoying a weekend without the kids in Laguna Beach.

We've spent the past few days in Rehoboth Beach, exploring surroundng seashore parks and eating too well. Heading home in a few hours. I just finished hours of hand watering dozens of container plants and thirsty shrubs around the yard of the friends' house in which we're staying, and am about to go out again to spray anti-deer formula on their salad bar. I am a dirty, sweaty lady with mosquito bites on my ankles and a blossoming cold sore on my lip -who at the moment couldn't be happier! 

Tina

Sounds great, Tina!

Caryn...can't wait for the update.

Stefajoy,
That is beautiful! I have always been against tattoos for my self and was not thrilled when my daughters got them. Also, Jewish mothers having been telling their children for generations that if you have a tattoo you can't be buried in a Jewish cemetery. Although there is much rabbinical debate over this, it's not true. The rabbi who married my younger dd had a tattoo on his ankle. My younger dd's tattoo is in Hebrew (ahava, the Hebrew word for love). So... I am getting a small hamsa (hand of Miriam to Jews, hand of Fatima to Muslims) on my forearm. The hamsa is a traditional Jewish symbol and I have one in my car, front door, jewelry etc. I am really drawn to it. My daughters think I am crazy ( but support me) and I can't imagine what some of my friends and family will think. I don't care. It makes me happy!