A bunch of little bits

What follows will be a smattering of little bits of things that have crossed my mind in the past few weeks relative to writing here on the blog.

First, I've been reading in rapid fashion a Young Adult fiction series entitled the Ranger's Apprentice, by John Flanagan.  My favorite quote from the series comes from volume 7: "Now I know that if you wait till you think you are ready, you'll wait all your life." Spoken by Will to Horace, p. 373.  This is so true.  I think this holds true for all the major events of my life: college, mission, marriage, parenthood, etc.

Second, school has ended for the year.  L (far right) received a varsity letter for swimming, an award for "maintaining a 4.0 GPA for the 2011-2012 school year," and she was selected for "outstanding performance in the area of web page design."

J had a guitar concert. I thought the concert was one of the best I had ever attended but I think it was probably a regular concert seen through the filter of nostalgia, since this is my last concert at this school after eight years. J lettered in Seminary for the Old Testament, made the honor roll and received an award: "President's Award for Educational Excellence" for outstanding academic excellence. I am proud of J & L for their hard work this past school year.

Third, you know I cannot talk about two children and leave out the third.  T is my multi-tasker (at the time of this picture, he was probably computing while watching television and monitoring X-Box360-- simultaneously). Here he has his animal friends, left and right, to keep him company.

Fourth, back in 2009, I wrote about us being cat farmers, thanks to my mother's request that we look after her three cats.  Cat farmers. About a week ago, Mom's white cat died.  It was old and in poor shape but I can't help but feel someone helped it along.  We found her under a series of three trees where we'd previously found dead our cat Bandit and a guinea hen (not all lately and not all at once) so it did hint to me of foul play. That spot can't attract that many "I'm ready to die" animals.  Anyway, Snowflake (what a kind sounding name for a mean cat) is no more and I kept thinking of her and my mother this Memorial Day.

Fifth, there has been a transformation.  This photo (above) is from several years ago showing the front yard of what we call "Tom's house."  This past week, four of us, along with renters, neighbors and friends, laid sod for four hours.

Here is the photo of the transformed front yard!  What a difference a day makes!

Sixth, there have been a lot of fires already this year.  This is a photo of a fire that burned here in the Tri-cities.  B is off working on a fire even as I type. We're glad for the work and B enjoys it.  He's not directly fighting the fire.  He's support staff.

Seventh, our niece M and our nephew D graduated from high school this year.  We're proud of their accomplishments and wish them well.

Finally, the thoughts of the Primary song keep going through my mind: 

Oh, what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?

Do you fish in a stream, or lazily dream on the banks as the clouds go by?

* * *

Do you swim in a pool, to keep yourself cool, or swing in a tree up high?

* * *

Do you march in parades, or drink lemonades, or count all the stars in the sky?

Is that what you do? So do I!