Friday's Fave Five, 5/29/15

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1. Exams are graded, high averages calculated, nothing left but awards and graduation.  Always a nice feeling to be DONE with all of that.  At the end of the year, I taught To Kill A Mockingbird to the juniors, and found this comic, which I put on their exam.  I thought it was funny.

2. I have a lot of energy right now and am putting it to good use, cleaning out closets as well as taking care of several projects at school.  Who knows - when the adrenalin collapses, it's gone - but until then I will try to make the best use of it.

3. The gym has been seeing me lately.  When Gold's dropped their prices considerably (think, "Planet Fitness came to town"), I decided to join back even with having an elliptical out back here at home.  And after five visits I can already tell a difference in my bad knee.  It's stronger, it doesn't bother me as much, and is not nearly as painful.  I hope to get it to the point of being able to do other things like walking the treadmill eventually.  I do not go every day, but every other or every third one, in hopes of not overdoing and setting it back, as that would mean starting over.  I stay on the elliptical until the first sign of pain, then transfer to the sitting elliptical and go awhile longer.

4. The "garden" (a few tomato, squash, and cucumber plants) is looking better, thanks to the good rain we had the other night.  The thought of good vegetables from the back yard is a good one.

5. Reservation is made for a place for our 30th-anniversary getaway!

This Is Why. . .

This is (one of the reasons) why I teach in Christian school.  It is from a book review written by a 9th grade girl.  They had to read a classic book, but on the list were included a few Christian classics, and   I recommended Not My Will, by Francena Arnold, to her.  This is from the evaluation part of her book review:

"I do not actually know why I chose this book.  All I know is that I am glad I did.  I have not read any books by this author, but I would recommend this book to a friend.  In the book, Eleanor goes through tough situations that are hard for her.  In the end when she gives everything over to God she finally realizes that God's will for her life is better than her own plan.  This book has changed my view of life. From this point on in my life, I will follow God's will for my life.  This book caused me to even think about my own walk with God.  I am glad God allowed me to read this book.  It really did change my life."

Seattle

This is Seattle, one of my Chinese friends from last summer.  We have stayed in some contact on WeChat; she even Face-Timed me one time.  She loves being in contact with an American, and has told me I am "like her mum."  She is a neurologist in the city where our son is working; however, she would like to move to another city that is on the coast.

I was able to include a present for her in a box to Andrew, and she is wearing the scarf that was in it.  I also sent socks made in America.  Also included - a small book on Christian apologetics.  In English.  I pray that it affects her heart.

Be Completely Truthful

Yesterday Mike stumbled across a listing for a beach house at an island we've never been to.  The photos showed a great beach view, and the price was a possibility for us.  Since we've got a big anniversary coming up this summer, and the home is available one of the weeks of his vacation, Mike emailed the man with one specific question:  Is there a clear view of the beach from the porch?  The man emailed back with the answer:  Yes, there is a good view of the beach from the porch.  Slightly different wording.

We were able to use Google maps to find the place and view a satellite view of it, as well as the street view.  (Amazing what you can do with technology these days.)  Bottom line:  It does not have a clear view of the ocean, nor is it at all an oceanfront lot.  Yes, it's a beautiful home, and on a nice beach, but it is back across a street from the beach, and the ocean view is at an angle to the left.  There are houses directly across the street from the home's porch.  The view was obstructed.

I talked with the man when he called, and he danced all around the question.  He kept wanting to describe the other nice features of the place - It was at the end of the island, not much traffic, large lots, great area.  He never would really say right out that the view was obstructed by another house, although he did finally admit that there was a house directly across the street from his house that we were looking at, blocking the view of the ocean.

We decided against it.  I told Mike that if he had just come right out and said "The beach view is at an angle to the left," we might have been more amenable to renting it even without the view we'd like.  But we did not feel like we were dealing with an entirely honest man - just with a man who eagerly wanted to rent his house out.

Not the Greatest of Pictures, but. . . .

. . .at least you can tell that the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak truly was at our feeders!!  Mike saw a female this morning, a male this afternoon, and this one was feeding when I drove up this afternoon.  Couldn't get really close, but it turned enough that I could snap a pic with its rose colored breast showing.

I realize that not everyone likes birds so much, and I promise after this post to quit regaling the readers of this blog with photos and excitement about this bird!

EDIT Saturday morning:  One more picture!

Friday's Fave Five 5/1/15

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1. A fresh haircut and then supper with my dear friend Gretchen last night.  Always a special treat to spend time with her!  We've been friends for 30+ years.  You don't get many sweet relationships like that in life.

2. I put together the information for a field trip and passed it out to my sophomores this morning.  And they were ecstatic!  We're going to the Biltmore House in ten days.  You never know how students are going to receive the information, but they thought it was great.

3. Had a nice 20-minute phone conversation on Tuesday night with a former student from many years ago who is now a school administrator in Guam.  It's so fun to see how these little junior highers I taught so long ago have grown up and are doing so well in their adult years.

4. Made a broccoli cornbread this week.  I had forgotten how good that is!

5. I wrote earlier this week about seeing this beautiful rose-breasted grosbeak at our feeder.  We've now had four sightings of it, and five other people in this part of the state have told me they've seen one also.  They are strictly migrants through the state, but apparently we are having quite an influx this year.  Such a beautiful bird!!