The West Virginia Writers' Conference

Finished up the WVW Annual Conference yesterday at Cedar Lakes in Ripley. As usual, my brain is bulging with all my new knowledge. Can I be any more inspired? Shoot, no. So many new ideas, new advice, new people. It was a lovely, exhausting--dare I say, super-sweet?--weekend.

Thanks to Granny Sue Holstein's suggestions for Ripley's best restaurants, I found this little gem:




I'm in love. It reminds me of a couple of places I used to work, a couple of people I loved, and a couple of wistful ideas all rolled into one. It's got small-town charm. It's got good, greasy food. And it serves breakfast all day. I love, love, love it. (I'm not sure it loves me, yet. But don't worry. I'll win it over.)

The End Is Near

Just a few short days of freedom left. What did I do on my last day off, while my sweet darling was working?

Here Comes Grace!!!

Got the word on the prayer chain---our friend Sarah is having a baby! AAAaaaghghgh! The suspense is killing me! Her baby shower is (was) this Saturday--she can't have a baby yet, we haven't given her the diapers! Her due date is next month! (hand wringing) And she's in Charleston, an hour away. Aaaaghghgh! Sarah, we are encircling you with prayers, Darlin'! Can't wait to meet Grace!

"Romans 5:20 But sin didn't, and doesn't, have a chance in competition with the aggressive forgiveness we call grace. When it's sin versus grace, grace wins hands down...Grace, because God is putting everything together again through the Messiah, invites us into life—a life that goes on and on and on, world without end.

Do You Think This Is Funny?

Because I don't. Well, maybe just a little. This is what happened yesterday.



Me: "La la la, I think I'll get the mail. Because that's one of the things people do. Get their mail. Hm hm hm, do do do."





Me: La, la, la (yelp!)






Okay, the backstory is (before you go lecturing about how this is the kind of thing that happens when your mailbox has no door) that the mail carrier knocked off the door. With her firm technique, with the car, we don't know. Greg buys new mailbox. Carrier rips off door. Greg makes decree: "There shall, from this day forward, be no door on yon mailbox". (Incidentally, the very day this happened, I saw our very responsible neighbors' mailbox door laying on the ground--the latest victims).

So, I think I will leave the nest in there for a while. You know. Just to see what happens. It's one of my social experiments...

Happy Fourth!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Independence Day! Today we watched the parade AND went for a bike ride. Wow. Now that's a vacation.

Pickin'

Today we picked strawberries. "We", as in Becca and the kids, yay! Lacey said it best when she said, "I wanna doe back to da nice cool house!" Yes. At the strawberry place I picked up some regular and eight-ball zucchinis and a pound of peanuts, which are boiling right now. (West Virginia doesn't count as a Southern state--unless we're being judged by Northerners or those eerie mid-westerners...Mid-atlantic, people, we're mid-atlantic...--so I learned about the boiled peanut phenomenon while on a trip to Florida some, uh, several years ago.)

Then at the farmer's market I got some endive to plant--yessss!--and a loaf of lovingly homemade wheat bread.

This is a good kickoff for my summer break (or, brake). I'm planning on riding my bike again really soon, my skin is nearly grown back.

Off to make some jam, pies, a rhubarb-strawberry crisp, etc. I'll post some pictures from school soon.

I've been busy, ok?

So skip April and May and head right on through to June. Let's see, what has June held in store for us so far...?
- Last day of school, YEAH!!
- Staff work day(s)
- Bonfire kickoff for the Connection
- Awards Ceremony for school...I love it, what a festivus!

Um, also I happened to crash a kick scooter. At a very high rate of speed. Please, keep all of the "Bet you'll never do that again"s and the "Now you know to stay away from scooters" and "Next time you should use the brake"s to yourselves because, trust me, I've heard these sentiments many times since Monday. I'd go into the whole horrific tale but there were so many, many witnesses that the chances are good you already know it or will very soon. Road rash is very miserable when it's on a part that bends. As Ralphie says on the Simpsons: "Tastes like burning!"



More later on this weekend's festivities...