Can you see the marquee in these little photos? I stood on the corner of the street for 5 minutes or so waiting for the perfect moment: Cliff's name on the board, no cars or trucks in the way, the perfect zoom setting to get the words clearly, etc. I'm sure anyone who noticed some lady taking photos on the street corner thought I was one brick shy of a full load. Or a stalker. Or something. Anyway, Cliff won Teacher of the Year for Fremont ROP. He and a teacher from every other district in Alameda County were honored at the county offices. They promised them all big bonus checks and instructed them to go to the "green room" after the ceremonies to receive their bonuses. Eagerly they all trooped to the "green room" only to be told that "the check was in the mail". Apparently the last (and most generous) donor's check had not yet arrived at the county offices, so the bonus checks could not be written quite yet. But they would certainly have them in the next week or so. Now, a month later, there is no check and the friendly assurances are not so forthcoming as they were in the first week or two.... Teacher of the Year is certainly a nice thing. It's an honor and an accolade. However, it's tempting to decide that it's just one more version of lip service that we pay to teachers.... hm. All cynicism aside, though, I'm very proud of Cliff. He excels at everything he does. He's a great teacher, with huge, popular classes and with students who remember and use what he teaches. So, Congratulations! to my man.
Gorgeous, gorgeous colorado. The two youngest and their two cousins and I visited my grandmother in her little beautiful Western Colorado town. It was apple season and I bought the most delicious apples! I'd forgotten what orchard-fresh apples actually tasted like. I'd gotten used to the grocery store version. This photo was taken on the Mesa. The best fall color is past already (it was the beginning of October) but it's still beautiful up there--the aspens are yellow and the evergreens are dark and the air is crisp.
On the Mesa is a creek and a reservoir named after my Grandfather's family. They were some of the earliest settlers in this little town and my forbears were part of the group of men who dug out the numerous reservoirs and waterways that feed their lovely little valley. Of course my kids just liked throwing rocks into the water, especially when they found a patch of thick ice. Could they break it with the rocks? Yes, they could! When my grandma is gone, we probably won't visit this part of the country. It's a long drive and she is the motivating factor for us to make it. I hope my kids have visited often enough now for them to retain a sense of the history for us in this little town. I love it here.
What the kids love about visiting the ranch: mud fights are a desirable activity, even if you have to scrub the dried mud off of the house the next day (I did a lot of washing of clothing, too). Budding architects can build dams in the creek (as long as Grandma K doesn't catch them). You can leave your shirt off all day (if you're a boy). You can build paper boats and race them down the creek. You can build fires every day--outside in the fire pit and inside in the stove. You can chop up wood--with a real axe!--for said fires. You can walk downtown unaccompanied and spend all your money at the local variety store (Duckwalls)--they have everything! Grandma makes enough food for you to eat until you are stuffed full. And then you can have the leftovers 10 minutes later when you're hungry again. At the right time of year, there's Applefest--a huge fair downtown with shopping, face-painting, food, games--all within walking distance of the ranch. If it's cold enough on the Mesa (as it is any time after summer is over), there'll be snow--at least enough to build a snowman and throw a few snowballs. When I was younger we'd sneak into the barn and jump on the piles of my Grandpa's hay bales. Now, though, Grandpa's gone and there's a friend who leases the pastures and the barn and I don't let my kids jump on his hay. :) Too bad. That was really fun. Until Grandpa caught us. Anyway, we had a great time, with a lot of driving (which I love) and a lot of visiting with people we love.
In other news...
Beautiful Rayne turned 20. She attempted evasions from all birthday photos taken this evening, but this is the one that I finally snatched, with help from her dad. She's such a nice girl. She's busy working, working... She is VERY excited to go to UK on BYUI's study abroad program. Now her focus is on saving money and planning everything. Gotta get as much as possible ready now since she may or may not be back here before she goes to UK in the spring. She returns to school after the holidays, at the beginning of January. I think she's about ready to go back. She couldn't WAIT to get home in July, but now she's getting tired of working full time and is looking forward to getting back into school and is REALLY looking forward to her trip, of course.
Ally is the most creative person I know. I've said this before, but I am still continually amazed at what she makes with ease--she conceives the project, she plans the project, she fabricates the project. She made this hat from her own design. And she totally made her Mat Hatter bandolier, hat and jacket (with tails at the back of it that you can't see from this angle) from her own design. She later rejected the Mad Hatter costume because she didn't like how it looked on her. All that work! She is a pretty amazing girl. And she IS getting better and better at remembering to clean up after herself :).... I keep reminding myself that genius can't be expected to do everything!
Isaiah's scout group used our backyard for a camp-out. They slept on the "peninsula" and cooked all their food over the fire and then the next morning they practiced shooting with 22s into the hillside. They had lots of fun. Only one desperate parent asked to use the bathroom. Isaiah smelled SO bad the next morning. What is it about camping? Anyway, they had a great time and I didn't have a to lift a finger. But I DID have to remember to close my curtains before I wandered into my bedroom and got ready for bed. No problem.
That big and windy storm that blew in in October was very exciting up here. We tied everything down. During the last storm, the trampoline got blown to pieces and when we collected them all from all over the north side of the property, we found that one of the big pieces was bent backwards. Our kind neighbor welded it back into shape for us. So this time, we tied it down. My dad, however, went out in the middle of the storm to check on all the little trees. They are all tied and supported, but the storm had indeed blown a few of them down and he had to wrestle with them in all the wet. Meanwhile my mom and I had a nice time giggling at his yellow slickers and taking photos of him from the comfort of the house. Doesn't he look cute?
Finally, here are my youngest two and my brother's 4 boys all dressed up for Halloween. We've got a detective, a hobbit, 2 injured boys, Dan (from Bakugon--duh, I'm surprised you didn't recognize him right away), and Darth Vader. Cliff and I took the kids up to Brentwood to trick or treat with their uncle and cousins while he and I (and our friends the Hutchings) went to dinner at Diggers. Yum! It was fun.
Postscript:
Yeah, I didn't mention Chase at all this post. But here he is, reclining on the couch. I couldn't complete a post with one kid missing. He just got transferred to the Livermore store and he got a promotion. He's still working on perfecting the body work for... the car... and he's the biggest tightwad in the family. Go Chase! As far as I can tell he's pretty much an EOE (if you don't know what that is, you'll have to ask me in person), but he's so dang charming that most of the time I just smile and nod. :)
Oh, and one further postscript:
Ah, my typical morning view--the container in the mist! I took this picture because it shows how my kitty hangs out with whomever is working in the back yard. My dad calls her the kit-dog because she follows us around outside and sits at her ease in the vicinity of whomever is working out there. This morning the kids were doing some chore out there and the cat was, of course, present and supervising all outside activities. BUT... today the container is to be moved!!!! Yay! The battle has been won and the container is now to be moved to the side of the house, out of my view. Also today Dad and Cliff and Ernie (we love our neighbors!) will place the 2 new cisterns. Soon we'll have enough rainwater to nourish all our landscaping (including a lawn for me!) and we'll have a workshop/storage shed for the tractor at the side of the house. And my view will be untrammelled. Well, except for the compost, the rock pile, the pea-gravel pile, the wood pile... etc. But the lovely container will be removed from the view. I am very happy. Pictures will be posted.... And maybe I won't leave 2 months to go by before I do it, either!
