Seven Quick Takes

1.  White Knight, our long-suffering minivan, ended the suspense of the mysterious oil pressure problem by coughing up its transmission. So, we donated that car, and shared Blue Streak for a few weeks while we looked for another one.  This merely required pre-planning everything, reshuffling the schedule, and paying a library fine.

2. We eventually found a new car, and it has air conditioning.  Sure, it has low mileage and is mechanically sound, but after 3 years of record hot summers with no air conditioning, we now know what is really important.

3. We finished the younger kids chemistry class (blog post coming).  We finished the history class.  We finished CCD and Youth Group.  We finished Adventurers.

We also finished Tiger Scouts and made the cupcakes to prove it. As it turned out, they weren't  too cute to eat, and they disappeared quickly!

I'm not sure why wrapping everything up feels like running a marathon, but it does.



4.  Mxyl and Klenda have been helping care for two toddlers while their mom recovers from Baby #3.  Juggling this in the schedule was more complicated than I thought it would be.  It's a good thing, but I'm glad we're nearly done!

5. We had another shark tooth expedition!  We had another 6 or 7 families come with no overlap from last month's fossil hunt.  It started out cold and rainy and I thought no one else was coming, so I was pretty surprised when more and more and more people showed up.  I'm not sure why, but last month all the home schooling families came, and this month it was the families with kids too young for school. Everyone had a great time, the weather cleared, and we found about 75 teeth.  And we didn't get sunburned.



6. We had Mother's Day. In a continuing effort to fully express my treasured uniqueness, I was given these mugs.  Forgive me if this is obvious, but, the one on the left is a Mongolian, on a horse, with an eagle, thus hitting my interests in  Mongolia,  horses, and falconry.

The mug on the right features an elegant 18th century scientific sketch of certain squids and octopi.  But it's the squids that count!

Okay, I'll admit, it's not a sculpture of a squid tentacle bursting through a porthole, but you can't expect that every year.

7. I had a birthday  (I turned 43 which means I'm in my prime).

We had an anniversary (23 years, so we're in our prime).

We've been too busy to blog since then (you know smooching and all) so for a belated poem of the week, I'd like to offer one for The Emperor (who wrote me an entire book of poetry for our anniversary).

Sonnets from the Portuguese: XLIII
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.
More 7QT fun with Jen.