oh, I wish I were in the land of cotton...*

This is night #3 without my man. The house is eerily quiet in the evenings. Instead of taking the opportunity to watch whatever I want, as loudly as I want, I sit quietly and read. Or surf the 'net. I am cooking some brown rice and will grill some chicken in a few minutes, for tomorrow's lunch. I share my bed with little girls and little dogs. I keep the radio on all night.

I miss you John. I know you're having a nice, relaxing, well-deserved vacation and visit with your dad, but I want you to know that I miss you!

*revised - - today I learned that cotton was not a crop of northeastern Tennessee

Winding up a fabulous summer

The kids start school in a week, so we've been wrapping up our summer fun. We took another trip up to the Eastern Sierras, to see the sites which are normally closed in the winter, particularly the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest and the Devil's Postpile National Monument. We did a lot of hiking, huffing and puffing our way through very high elevations. We even gondola'd up to the summit of Mammoth Mountain. It was all very magnificent. We stayed at Tom's Place again, and this time came across some "wildlife" on our front porch - - scorpions, racoons, mice -- yes, it was quite "rustic"! I highly recommend this area for quick, or even long, getaways, and would love to do it with our group of friends. I might be able to entice some of them with the prospect of great fishing...

Friday night, we hung out with the newlyweds (Julie and Miles), and Jess and Malin, and Nancy, to celebrate all their August birthdays. Near the end of the evening, Jess casually mentioned that they would eventually be moving closer, and I was so excited the rest of the night. On the way home, I described to John how perfect it will be, to be an aunt and uncle and have access to our nieces and/or nephews on a regular basis, and started throwing out scenarios of "you guys go on and have a good night, let the kids stay with us!". He just looked at me funny.

Last night, we attended a small, intimate reunion of the St Bonaventura Class of 1982. It was extremely enjoyable, of course. Bobby and Nora sure know how to throw a party. Their new home is so conducive to outdoor entertaining, it is a fabulous party place. It was good to hang with the friends that know us so well. John and I had so much fun making mix cd's of music from the era (nothing newer than 1982). Here is my favorite photo of the night, compliments of Lori:
What a bunch of handsome, funny, loyal, bright, honorable men. God bless 'em! They all picked such wonderful wives, too! Go figure!

A great run

Today was the closing performance of "Enchanted April" at the SPTC. It sold out its final three performances, and a few Sat/Sun performances. I had to wrestle with stand-by lists and squeezing people into empty spaces (there are always some no-shows). It really was a fabulous production, with a great quality cast. We will miss John's towel-dropping scene; it was a real money-maker for the theater! The audience loved it every night!

We are taking another vacation to the Sierras next week, this time to see the things that were closed in the winter. We are all looking forward to it.