Positively pea-green with envy!!"

For all you GWTW fans out there, the title is a line Scarlett O'Hara gave someone. I thought it went with the photo Dad emailed me just now.

He's the lucky one this time - he's in Oregon with the Fillmores - and the Hamills - and I'm stuck here in the 'hood!! I will be going up for the blessing, but I have to get all this school stuff done first. Whatever happened to school starting after Labor Day - even way after!!??

He and Robbie will be running the Hood to Coast Relay - so for all you race fans out there, place your bets now!!

And I'll keep slogging away at my job!! And trying to resist reading Mockingjay - since I feel like I should save it for the plane ride.

Good times with Ella!!

When I looked at this picture up close, it looked like Ella and Grandpa were having a prayer!! But they were waiting for me to deal in Phase 10!! (I won, thank you very much!!) Dad and I actually enjoy games, but seldom play. It's good to have kids around who will get the ball rolling, so to speak!

Ella forgot her bathing suit, but she figured out how to have some fun in the water with Miss Isla.

It was 101 degrees today - and this hot tub is not heated. Miss Isla loved dipping her toes in.

Of course we hit up Urbane - they are starting to know us all by name!!

And we rounded off our visit by making the famous elastic waist skirts that Hannah posted about. We did one for Ara too.

I forgot to take any pictures while we were working on my classroom - and that's too bad, because Ella was a Class A helper - no pun intended!! She did two bulletin boards for me, figured out how to get my computer up and running, helped me move book cases, tables and chairs, hooked up my cordless phone, filed student folders alphabetically, and generally made a usually tedious task lots of fun. She even came up with a "getting to know you" game that I'm going to use on the first day of school!!

Bonny's coming for her in the a.m. - so it's back to the grind for me!!

(She's making progress on Mockingjay, but probably won't finish before she leaves. But she will get a turn to finish!!)

"Summertime, and the livin' is easy, . . ."

Well, either nothing is going on in anyone's life. Or so much is going on that there's no time to report on it.

This photo is from June - the weekend of my mom's 90th b-day party - because I always think a post needs a photo. And believe it or not, I haven't been taking many photos lately. Of course, you might not be interested in a photo of me sleeping in, or staying in my nightgown until noon, or watering the plants outside, or reveling in the exponential growth of the Sycamore tree, or bemoaning the fate of the apricot tree that was attacked by bears and the deer!!, or photos of me addressing birthday cards or sewing aprons. Or shopping. Or talking on the phone. Or blogging. Or doing laundry.

And that's pretty much what I've been doing.

What have you been doing??

(The wildlife did not kill the apricot tree. They left it alone as soon as all the fruit was gone. It looks "pruned" shall we say. We think the strategy is to pick all fruit as soon as it appears, so the animals won't be interested in the tree. At some point, it will become sturdy enough to withstand their attack - and big enough so that there will be plenty of fruit at the top and they can eat what's on the lower branches.)

When friends come to call!

Our good friends Kirk and Sheri came to call tonight! It's always fun to get with the hometown folk!

Sully is mastering the "casual" snooze pose.

My old college and Grenoble buddy Lynn not only brought us lunch when she came to call today, but she brought dinner too!! It was great to play catch up!!

Phoebe is dutifully picking away at the thank you notes. She's had lots of friends drop by with gifts and goodies, and the mailman has delivered a package or two. Never fear, I make her take a nap each afternoon so she's up for these activities!!

Lest you think David is making himself scarce, just know that he resists having his picture taken!! (He's around all right - he did Cub Day Camp duty today - and it was cool and gray - perfect weather when you're the adult at day camp!!)

Baby Sully continues to charm us all. My visit is winding down - I will miss being here!! So I guess I'll go change him while Phoebe gets ready for bed!!