quote of the day...

People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.

W. Somerset Maugham
English dramatist & novelist (1874 - 1965)

quote of the day...

He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.


Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC), The Confucian Analects

thank goodness for air conditioning

It's 97 here with air quality alerts. I'm so glad we have air conditioning. I can't image what it would feel like without it.

Friday, Joshua came home from school early with a wicked sore throat and a slight cough, but had a high temp. Luckily, they have convenient care places around here, kinda like doctor's offices, but not quite emergency rooms, which are open on the weekends for those "not quite an" emergency situations. Yesterday, when Joshua's temperature rose to almost 103, we took him in, only to find out he has strep throat.

Then, this morning... guess what?

Yup.

You guessed it.

I woke up with a sore throat, swollen glands, a headache, and fatigued. Yup. I've got it, too.

Are we surprised?

I'm not.

quote of the day...

If you put a chain around the neck of a slave, the other end fastens itself around your own.

Emerson

random picture from last year

quote of the day

Elegance of language may not be in the power of all of us; but simplicity and straight forwardness are. Write much as you would speak; speak as you think. If with your inferior, speak no coarser than usual; if with your superiors, no finer. Be what you say; and, within the rules of prudence, say what you are.

Alford

Rock garden bunny

My new rock garden with swinging bunny

Majestic Maple

The maple tree in our yard -- it is now in full bloom!

Mister Rory has a story...

Rory Calhoun, our latest addition to the family. He's been a very sick little boy this week, but we've taken good care of him.

Another rose is a rose...

Peppermint scented roses called "Scentsational Roses"
These we haven't planted yet, they are still in the containers, but it's been raining this week.

A rose by any other name...

This is our "Passionate Princess TwoAgain" roses that we planted last week in my rock garden.

My new car... YAY!!!!

Toyota Camry XLE
(bubye Ford Escape, piece of shit SUV...)

Well...

We're here and fairly settled. The house is beautiful but still messy a bit since we have a few more boxes still to unpack and we have a few issues with the plumbing and the grading of the lawn... Other than that, the house is fabulous and I've already planted three rose bushes with three more to go when the weather isn't as hot and muggy as it has been this week so far.

On other notes -- my heart has finally been good the last week and a half. I haven't had to take my beta blockers for several days and I've felt fine. Not sure what happened, but I don't think I'm out of the woods as of yet. I'm still leary and still waiting for it to all start again at any moment.

Also, my truck crapped out again. Yet another ignition coil. The new service place here claims they never changed the old ignition coils at all in Maine and that they screwed me over (at $180 bucks a pop, thank you very much)... but, of course, nothing I can do from here... there is no recourse for it at this point, so basically Lisa and I are out over $1,000 from the last year.

Joshua has been doing great in school. He was behind in his work when he came here two weeks ago -- apparently in Hartland, ME teaching kids things like cursive and fractions aren't important... here, they are. Josh spent the first four nights crying over his hours of homework in order to catch up. Now he's starting to catch up completely and has actually been getting A's and B+'s -- I'm very proud of him.

Tonight is the Ithaca festival -- the theme? Ithaculture -- diversity -- gotta love it! We're going to the parade which kicks it off tonight at 6pm. Can't wait!