Hello There!

Hi Everyone! I've been swamped with school and grading. I've been going to bed early, getting up to talk to Bill before school and go, go, going all day. Not exactly my cup of tea! I thought I'd show you this Halloween-y skeleton that hangs in one of the science classrooms. Boo!

Here's Jenny's pup, BEANS. Isn't she a cutie? She came over tonight with Jenny and Scott. They brought pizza. Yum! I still need to pack my little bag for Hawaii! Yahoo! We leave tomorrow morning!

Look at this lovely glass bead that Carolyn sent me! I have been wearing it every day!

The heating system at school is so wacky, and now it is FREEZING in my room. I need these fuzzy shoes to keep warm all day! But, tomorrow: FLIP FLOPS!

This is what Denver looked like the other day when I stopped to pick up some dinner at the burrito store.

A MIRACLE HAS OCCURRED. I went to Crate and Barrel with Kelli the other day and I looked around at all this house stuff that I used to WANT and now I do not want any of it anymore. Isn't that amazing?

Fall is still showing its brilliance even with some soggy, cold October days!

Little Miss Love Bug. Don't you just want to smooch her?

Birdie's pumpkin. Pom Pom's pumpkin growing did not yield a real whopper of a crop. This looked good for a while, but is rotting at the stem now. Sad. The two green survivors in the patch are mushy and dead. Oh well.

So tomorrow I shall see this sea! I'm planning on taking my computer so I can lay around on the bed and blog. I'll show you my sights and tell you about the tropical smells. I wish you could come with us! I had better go throw some clothes in a bag and round up all the chargers, glasses, and papers - stuff my backpack and sleep. We'll talk soon! BIG LOVE!

Just One Carpet Bag

"Own only what you can always carry with you: know languages, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag." ~Alexander Solzhenitsyn
When we went to Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia and Australia last summer, I packed what I needed in my backpack. My hair was longer so I pulled it back in a not so flattering ponytail. I wore my walking shoes, packed my flip flops. We were gone for three weeks and I wanted for nothing. I came home with many new people in my heart, new places in my mind. Bill is purging the garage and I must follow suit and purge the cabinets, drawers, and the basement storage closet. I've made many attempts at simplifying. I hope I'm getting better. It's time to purge the classroom, too. I cannot part with any books, but I've pared down the paper and reduced the yarn stash. I'm pretty attached to "stuff" I'm afraid.