Linnea's HOME!

I know this is dark, but it just shows the duo in action....or not. I'll take a nice one, too, with them ready for the day. It's just so relaxing to get up, eat together, and just hang out on the computer. Linnea had to finish Harry Potter when she got home on Wednesday afternoon. She finished about 8:30, so we can all discuss it now. This book hasn't seem to generate the discussion the last one did. I guess we were guessing what would happen next. This time we have a sense of resolution. So we talk about what we liked and what we think about different parts. We all loved the way JKR pulled all the loose threads together. What a lovely pattern she created!

I've been fairly busy since our princess got home. Yesterday I had tea with my friend Stella, then in the afternoon I had a visit with another friend who came to pick up a book I had borrowed. I ran up to school to take some of our used books to sell, then came home and made yummy pasta with marinated chicken breast for dinner. Sometimes my Italian cooking amazes me.....! *smile* (The boys hate it when I talk that way, even if they know I'm just kidding around.) Then in the evening we watched The Queen. Today I had to go to a Dr. appt. for my nodule on my thyroid. It is just something that hangs around and doesn't do anything. Every Dr. says the same thing, and I just don't do anything about it. This Dr. was no different even if he was off base, meaning in the private sector. Doctors. Yuck.

I'm trying to get dinner done so I can go read out by the swimming pool. I've put a couple of pictures on Flickr. Denny should be home from Colorado any minute now! Then our WHOLE FAMILY will be together! Yeah!

Finished!

I just finished HP#7! Ah, great story! We've been sharing the one book among the three of us. I started reading it aloud to Andrew (Will didn't want to listen) when it arrived on Saturday, then I let Andrew read it. He had it Sunday afternoon and evening, then I got it yesterday morning. Will took over at 1:30 yesterday afternoon when I relinquished it to go to an appointment and then out for dinner. When we got home at 9:15, Andrew had it and said he'd only had it about a half hour. So he read it until nearly 11 (he has to get up for work before 5!). Then Will got his chance again. I happened to be awake when Will went to bed about 4am! Then I started it again this morning about 8:30 and finished about 11. So satisfying.....

Will talk about it later when more people have finished. Will just took over. Maybe he'll finish it today. (Kinda confusing when verbs are the same as my child's name!!)

A Sunday evening visit to the Shire

I love visiting the quiet Iowa countryside. I love the rolling hills of corn and soybeans. I love the still, reflecting ponds beside neat farmhouses. I love hearing lowing cattle and the buzzing of cicada. A Sunday evening spent in this setting fills me with nostalgia. I used to ride my bike down our gravel road before sunset, a green and golden evening. So last night we got to spend the evening with our friends at the farm. We ate, went for a walk down this road (and back up, puff, puff) and then sat beside their little fishpond by the house. It was so peaceful! Quiet. The scent of the corn silk or tassels, one or the other, is strong and sweet this year. I don't know why, but I've noticed it more. Every time I go out there I think, oh, I would love to live way out where it's quiet all the time and I can look out over these hills. But then I think more realistically, and I realize I would probably get lonely, and all those snowy days trying to get around...and how long it takes to get to the store and back...and what about being alone at night... Anyway, it does seem like a lovely place to spend a lifetime! Our friends were saying that they look out and see the neighborhood almost like Bilbo saw the shire. They know the farmers all around and their families. Who used to live there, where they are now... It's all very peaceful and friendly. We just hope that Saruman and his henchmen never arrive! On the other hand, not too far away, closer to Council Bluffs, they are cutting down the trees, stripping the topsoil and building huge houses. But don't let me spoil this peaceful post with that!

Communicating

My blog, as well as most blogs, is about communicating. I use this for staying in touch with family and friends without having to write a lot of different emails. I can express myself, relate what I'm doing and send pictures all from one space. It also helps to communicate with people who either don't check their email or their email boxes are "full". BTW, Melinda, I can't email you for that reason, but I wanted to tell you that we got the family photos! Thanks! I've tried emailing you a couple of times, and they all come back. I don't know if my other sisters read this or not...
And blogs help me stay in touch with my grown up daughter. I know she's still doing all right if she writes in her blog, and she knows what we're doing if she reads mine!

At least we're doing SOME kind of communicating!
Maybe I'll go write in my journal before my HP book arrives...I try to keep a hard copy journal, too. And I'm NOT reading anything about HP until I'm finished!!!

Scotland Trip photos

Since I signed up for Flickr pro, I figured that I might as well get the most out of it by uploading other albums in case the computer crashes or something. So this morning I put up most of the photos Linnea and I took in Scotland the summer of 2005. It's been fun to go back and look at them. Now all of you on the other side of the pond can see my view of that trip. For me the trip is all about people. I have great friends there! The only bad part about it is that I hardly ever get there to see them. And Scotland is beautiful! I never get tired of the views, the sky, the sea, the sheep, the flowers...I love to go walking there breathing in that fresh cold air! *smile* At least I know I'll get to come back here and get warm again! Refreshing to look at these photos today when it is in the 80's and 80% humidity!

By the way, I finished HP#6. I'm ready for the next one!

Harry Potter begins...

Yes, this is the week for Harry Potter. Last evening Andrew said he wanted to see the movie with Denny and me. Hey, if my 19 year old wants to go to a movie with me, I'll drop everything and go! And if he puts his arm around me and talks to me as we walk out of the theater, he can ask me for just about anything! So we broke down and joined the throng at the theater. We left at the last minute, so there was no waiting in line. I didn't really want to go, for one thing because that book made me so mad at Harry. He was so whiney, and it went on and on. He was such a baby through that book, I wanted to slap him. So I didn't know if I wanted to put myself through that torture.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. The movie zoomed along. No belaboring the torture, or the long time at the house where the Order was staying, or about how he felt about Cho. We got enough of Doris Umbridge to make us wish for her demise, but then things moved on. We feel like these characters are our old friends. Poor Trelawney!

I had forgotten what went on in this book as far as details. What happened in which book? I had forgotten lots of stuff, so it probably didn't bother me that the movie skips through it so quickly. Helena Bonham-Carter is a very convincing Bella Lestrange. She just looks as crazy as she did as Ophelia in Hamlet. Sirius Black looks like such a nice guy. Too bad he ends there.

Now I'll skim through the book again, read book six, and sit by the mailbox on Saturday waiting for the last book to be delivered. The boys are going to the bookstore on Friday night to get in on the party. Will and his friends went to the midnight showing last Tueday night...and he still got up for work on Wednesday!

Some good ideas from this book/movie. Hermione is trying to console Harry who is feeling like he is alone in his battle against evil by saying that Voldemort WANTS him to feel like he is alone, because then he will be more easy to defeat. Reminded me of Elijah when he tells God that he is alone in his fight against Baal worship. Yet, God tells him, there are many more in the fight. So true that Satan wants us to feel isolated. That's why a good church community is so important. Harry's mind plays a very big role in this book/movie. That also reminds me that God wants us to control our minds, to be conformed to HIS way of thinking, not the thinking around us. Satan wants to make us think negative thoughts, loneliness, distrust, anger, resentment, self-pity. Just as V. does in the story. But when we set our minds on what is good, lovely, beautiful, that negative spirit is broken. We see that in one of the last scenes when Harry is struggling against V. When Harry started to think about the good things that he had in his life, the good friends, the good, happy experiences, the love of friends and family, V. had no more control over him. "SET your minds on things above,"the Bible says. That is one area where God must be my strength.

So I think Harry will win over V. in the last book, because of that love thing. But we'll just have to wait and see......

Space Shuttle Atlantis at Offutt

Isn't this so cool?! I was just going to check the news and the Omaha.com website said that the shuttle had just landed, so Andrew and I jumped in the car and drove over to the base. It was a festive atmostphere over there. Sort of like everyone running up to the corner of town in Castletown to see the Queen and her entourage come through the village. It is amazing to see this in real life, too. The 747 is so huge and the shuttle just sits up there attached at those two places. It's incredible. We took some from the side from the observation deck and then a guy took this one for me from the top of his pick-up to get a shot over the fence. Not everyday we see sights like this. I'm glad I didn't miss it!