We have just come to the end of our 24th year of homeschooling. I'm glad for a good, if CRAZY, year. Our kids have accomplished so much, and it's years like this that make me feel successful, even when the successes aren't mine. I've been resisting doing much planning for next year...I'm sort of in denial that it will be Shelley's last year and then I'll have only a small school of two high school boys left. Where have the years gone?

My absence lately is partly explained by a week of the flu. I've been asked several times if it was the swine flu, and I'm not sure but have decided we'll go with Piglet Flu. Is there a vaccine for that?

Six weeks until vacation. We continue the planning and looking forward to being all together in the mountains of New Mexico and celebrating the 30th anniversary and renewal of vows of John's older brother and his wife. How cool will it be to do that after riding the ski lift to the top of the mountain?!

I never tire of Chopin. Never.

Tomorrow we will get the fleeting pleasure of a quick visit with my nephew and his family. Chris is returning from another stint overseas and he and the family will be here for a few hours before parting again. Yep, we'll get to spend Memorial Day with a real, live service member, as well as honoring the service of The Papa and others. And I can taste the bratwurst now...

It's very hard to explain "indigo" to a 6 year old granddaughter sitting beside you in church trying to draw an anatomically correct rainbow :-)

Some things this spring give us heavy hearts. Neither of our mothers are doing well, and we see each growing more fragile. John's mother, always vigorous and strong until November of last year, has been experiencing excruciating back and leg pain and has spent most of the past months in bed. She had surgery last week and now it appears that it was unsuccessful. My mother, still frail from Parkinsons, had a knee replacement a couple of months ago, after which she fractured the bone above the replacement. That was repaired surgically and she finally came home last week and 24 hours later she fell and may have refractured her leg. She will have to wait until Tuesday for an xray but in the meantime is in a lot of pain and is unable to get in and out of a chair by herself. Both women know the Lord and rely on Him for what they need to get through the day, but it's a sad reminder to us of how short our time with them may be...

Okay, one more time, remind me WHY we would want Nancy Pelosi to resign?

I finished up a Teaching Company course on the history of mathematics last week and started a new one on linguistics, taught by John McWhorter. I reviewed one of his books a while back (The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language) and am thoroughly enjoying watching him teach this course on DVD. I've just ordered another one of their courses on the Dutch masters of painting. So much to learn...

And after a short break from actual books, I've picked up New Mercies by Sandra Dallas.

The current dilemma at Granny's House: the girls want a second piano in the house. No, folks, a piano and an organ in one small living room isn't enough...we need another piano so they can play their duets and practice music for church without sitting beside each other on one bench. I've told them that means we'd have to get rid of the couch, and they looked at me like, "So?" Stay tuned.

Well, I'm off to have coffee with a friend and hoping the thunder I'm hearing in the distance doesn't mean I'll be spending the night at Starbucks. Have a wonderful week, friends and family!

(Happy Birthday, Julie C.!)

Labels: Books, Family, Food, Health, Holidays, Homeschooling, Learning, Music, Vacations