The Gypsy Wagon

Lovely Charleston

Two years ago we were lucky enough to go to Charleston for Easter and we were lucky enough to get to do it again this year.  When we came two years ago, we were looking for warmth and sun and an unusually cold Easter awaited us.  We spent our visit adding layers to our spring clothes and huddling against the wind.  This year, we were much more fortunate and the weather was gorgeous.  Although it was a little cool, we were able to go to the beach.  Some of us even ended up with sunburns!  

The sky was a achingly beautiful Carolina blue and people were in high spirits with the onset of spring. Flowers were blooming and the air smelled fresh and clean.

We spent lots of time walking downtown - partly to enjoy the sights and sounds, partly, too, to counteract the food that Charleston's known for.

Several places were so good that we ate there twice - Hyman's and Jestine's each saw us twice during our short stay.

The Master's was going on this weekend and during our downtown treks, there were plenty of reminders:

Reminders of Easter were everywhere, and in this Holy City, the tributes were beautiful.

The Easter service at the church we attended when we lived here was glorious - full of little girls wearing smocked dresses and patent leather Mary Janes, and little boys (and big boys) in that oh-so- Southern blue seersucker suit.  Bowties and big hats also reminded us that we were in the South where Sunday Best has a meaning all its own.

We took a drive up the coast and saw small towns where shrimping is still the name of the game.

And then it was on to Pawley's Island where John spent so many summer weeks during his childhood.

We took a last trek to the downtown waterfront in Charleston for a couple of last minute photo ops, then shrimp and grits (yum!) for dinner.  It's time to pack up and head home, but it's only a matter of time before we return!

So then four months went by. . .

 

November came and went with a quiet Thanksgiving.  December blew through like it was rocket-fueled.  Christmas parties, and pageants, cookies and decorating, cards and gifts were all a blur as the month came to a close.  Photographs were taken to mark some of the events, while others were recorded only as memories.  2009 crept in quietly as I continued schoolwork and prepared to start my new job teaching ten fourth grader. Once school started, time took on a quality that I didn't know it had - and warp speed became more than a concept to me. It became reality.  February brought the annual Fab February Five birthday weekend, and then it was March.  Now it's Spring Break and I'm just barely coming up for air.  Holy cow - what a wild ride!

I've loved all of the new components of my life - my schoolwork and my classroom, but I struggle daily to find a measure of balance and a little piece of quiet.

We operate at such a crazy pace, that I feel as though I never really PREPARE for the next thing, I just grab what I need and GO.  Whether the "next thing" is dinner, a lacrosse game, a field trip or houseguests, very little thoughtful preparation is happening these days.  I have lesson plans prepared, and that's just about it.  I know that this first year in the classroom has demands that are incrementally larger than subsequent years will be, so I find myself hanging on to the safety bar as the roller coaster prepares to rush down the track.  

Last week's fluke snow day gave me an unexpected day off - and rather than playing catch-up on all of the housework and laundry, I grabbed the camera and went out to catch the day.  I'd like to have visual documentation to augment my memories. 

Just Happy.

Just because.  Happy that it's Fall, and the leaves are swirling.  Happy that my kids are all growing and changing and learning and and straining at the bit to do new things.  Happy that I'm here now and life is good.

Happy Birthday, Birthday Girl!

   

She's funny, witty, creative and a damn good cook.  She takes ordinary days and turns them into an adventure.  She has beautiful girls , a handsome husband, and friends from one corner of the country to the other.  She's a Texan through and through, and a proud Aggie.

She has great collections:

   

She's the go-to-gal, when you've gotta go to Round Top:

 She loves the country, and wildflowers and horses.

And today it's her birthday.  Pop over and tell her Happy Birthday.

Oh, and let her know her present from me is going to be late!

 

Thank you Heather Bullard!

Now I don't know Heather, but she has a beautiful blog with gorgeous pictures and an online shop called The Present Past Collection.  On the 26th of August she had a fall decorating tutorial.  You'll just have to page down on her blog -- I don't have time right now to figure out how to link to that specific entry -- anyway, her finished product was beautiful and it inspired me to do the one pictured above.

I did it this morning after the kids went off to school and used mostly stuff I had around the house.  I bought the striped ribbon (thank you Martha Stewart collection at Michael's), the birds and the glass bead sprigs that are stuck in there.  Everything else came from my yard or my stash.  I want the magnolia leaves and that vine-y stuff to dry, so there's no water in that sap bucket.  The hydrangeas came from our house in Maine 3 years ago, but I did spray them with floral paint this morning (oh - that's one more thing from Michael's).  It was a great project - and quick too, which is good since I'm expecting 40 for dinner tonight and I should be prepping for that instead of making door decor.  Oh don't worry - I'm not cooking this time.  Went to plan B and ordered 3 five-foot submarine sandwiches.  Had to - I'm working this afternoon and have a jv soccer game to watch.  In the end, it will all happen.  I'll offer it up to Our Lady of the Miracle of the Party, and it will all be fine.  I think.

Oh - I have a few really old blog entries to catch up on, and some pictures from the July Texas trip that I want to share.  New semester has started for me, and the fall routine is taking some time to fall into place, but I'll get there.

Go visit Heather Bullard and enjoy her blog - she's been blogging regularly and you'll enjoy her spot!

3731.

That's 3731 miles - from home to Texas and back again.  We were gone two full weeks and covered a lot of territory.  We visited with family and friends and we ate.  Oh how we ate.  We ate barbecue, and BlueBell, tex-mex and chicken fried steak with cream gravy.  We rode go-karts and played laser tag, we hunted for tree frogs and turtles.  We found a black widow spider and saw deer.  We ran on back roads and watched the cows look at us in disbelief.  We smelled the fresh earthy fragrance that is the country and we saw countless stars in the night sky.  We went to Schlitterbahn and screamed with delight as the cold Comal drenched us and dumped us and swirled us around.  We watched our children renew friendships with friends they may see only every couple of years - and laughed as they left us behind, content in their relationships.  We went to a street party and listened to live music; and saw high school teachers and classmates, old friends and new.  We saw miniature horses and listened as the newly weaned babies whinnied for their mothers.  We played golf and scrabble, clue, and charoodles and christened the newest olympic sport - the lunge.  We ate at the gas station and the airport, and in the car - and at old places and new.  We drove from the side of the Chesapeake Bay through the foothills of the Blue Ridge mountains, the Smokies and down through the Mississippi Delta.  Across the flatlands of Houston and then into the rolling Texas Hill Country.  It was an incredible journey, but oh it is so good to be home.

Road Trip

I missed the Welcome to Virginia sign but we did traverse the entire state before entering Tennessee.We spent the night in Chattanooga - along with the under-six baseball all-star teams from Tennessee and Georgia.  It was a lively place.The next day took us to Georgia (guess I missed that picture too), then Alabama.

Then Mississippi (with the nicest Welcome Center manned by a lovely lady passing out cups of the best. diet. coke. ever.).  

Then into Louisiana - again, missed the sign.  As we got closer to New Orleans, the devastation of Katrina became more and more apparent.  In the outskirts of Metairie, we began to see houses abandoned and overgrown with vines and weeds, next to houses under construction with FEMA trailers parked out front.  In between were houses that were stuck in limbo - rickety and broken, but still inhabited.  Whole apartment buildings were broken like popsicle stick sculptures, and while some were being reconstructed others were left behind - remnants of a life that is no more.  As we drew closer to New Orleans we saw neighborhoods that showed pockets of empty lots, and more houses that nature had reclaimed.  I couldn't take photos of those houses.  Somehow it felt intrusive and unseemly, and that taking photographs would be akin to taking one more thing from these people who'd already lost so much.

We stayed in Algiers, and took the ferry over to New Orleans.Then we wandered around the city on one of the hottest days of the year. Periodic stops for water helped, but ultimately we needed an early dinner and the reprieve of the air-conditioned hotel room. I hadn't been to New Orleans since 1977, and I was surprised at how little the downtown area had changed

Evidence of last year's Mardi Gras is still evident in the trees.

And wrought iron artistry is everywhere.

Yesterday morning, we got the first ferry over to New Orleans

and arrived while the sidewalks were still wet from their daily cleaning. We went to the famed Cafe du Monde for cafe au lait and beignets.  One bite took me back 31 years to the summer of 1977.  The hot delicious powdered sugar coated pastry was worth every calorie and the sugar coma that followed.

We left Cafe du Monde and headed for Texas.

Texas or Bust!

I should be washing, sorting, planning and packing because at o-dark-thirty tomorrow morning we leave on our 2008 Texas and Back RoadTrip.  I love a good road trip, and so do our kids - and I'm excited about the time I get to spend with John in the car.  The ipod is loaded with great road trip songs, I've got books, magazines and the coursework for my next class all ready to go. 

It's been 3 1/2 years since our whole family has been to Brenham, and I can't wait to take them back.  We'll eat our weight in BlueBell and barbecue and tex mex.  Maybe we'll get to the coast for some gulf shrimp and beach time.  We'll definitely hit Austin for Chuy's (again with the tex-mex), and then New Braunfels for Schlitterbahn and some river time. 

It will be two weeks loaded with family, friends, food and fun.  Look for posts from the road.

In the meantime, here are some pictures to hold me over til we get there:

 

See ya from the road! 

If I got a cape, could I then be Superwoman?

When I started this back to school thing in March, I had visions of shiny pencils, crisp new textbooks and essays with a giant "A" circled in red.  I didn't picture: piles of laundry, errands, children in and out, and in and out, and in and out of the house - doors slamming behind.  I didn't picture the doorbell ringing every single time I sat down, spread out my  papers and settled my laptop on my lap.  I didn't picture dozing off while editing this ridiculously annoying 26 page paper FOR THE THIRD TIME.  I didn't realize that my writing would bore me to tears, and that I'd feel so inept. 

It's making me a little bit nuts - the juggling of it all. And the problem is that it's all good stuff to juggle and I don't want to give any of it up.  I'm annoyed that I thought it would be easier than it is and that I thought I would suddenly become organized and efficient.  Which it isn't and I haven't.  So there's that.

So maybe a cape is what I need.  Or a nap.

The Land of the Free

And the home of the brave.