Yesterday and today were wonderful days. It was sunny and you could feel the wind was an autumn breeze. I mowed part of the lawn, but was stopped by a heavy pile of leaves that need to be raked before I finished mowing. I really hate raking leavesm but it has to be done.

I started attending a bible group called Mark on Mondays where will be study the Gospel of Mark. It went fairly well last night. It was a whole different group of people than I usually meet with, which was nice. And I did participate in the discussion.

The bit of fall we had is gone and been replaced by warm, muggy weather. Yesterday was an interesting day. It was quiet and welcoming, though a bit confusing to me. Apparently I am really not an abstract thinker because I never see things with the insight that others do. I think I am probably right brained. In spite of this I enjoyed the day. The other women were very nice and the leader was a wonderful guide. It was definitely a day of relaxation which I have continued into today.

I finished knitting my sweater and am now sewing it together. I also worked on a sock I started yesterday. It is a simple sock pattern, but the yarn is beautiful superwash wool in different shades of deep aqua and blues. It reminds me of ocean colors and currents. The texture is smooth and cool, not slippery at all, so it is easy to knit.

I finished listening to Forest by Sonya Hartnett. As with other books she has authored it is an unusual and entrancing story. A city cat and two kittens are dumped in a forest after their owner has died. The novel, told from the cats' perspective, describes the journey home for Kian and the two kittens who lived with him, Cally and Jem. The cats evenutally find their way out into the grasslands and the familiarity of the human world. This story however, is no Mother Goose tale, and the evils and dangers the cats face are all too real. While fear and hunger are their constant companions, they also run across the paths of a dog on the loose and the dangers of the road. Hartnett has given voices to the cats that seem to perfectly suit them as felines. The fates of Kian and the kittens keep the reader (listener) entranced right up to the end of the book, and as with her other works, the ending is one that is never as expected.
(Caroline Lee gives an excellent narration of the book.)

From Amazon.com (much better than mine):
Kian, a cossetted suburban cat, is snatched from his comforts and dumped in the bush along with two kittens, Cally and Jem. The greatest threat to their survival are other cats, ferals who fiercely guard their territories. Kian survives some unnerving and vicious encounters but is unswerving in his desire to make the long journey home to his territory even though it is apparent his owner is dead and that there will be no welcome from the cruel man who has taken over the house. Hartnett's creation of the cat's point of view and her sensuous depiction of the forest is exceptional in its imagination, beauty and truth.

There was a taste of fall today with the temperature getting down to the 30's. I hope my roses are ok-I didn't get a chance to cover them and they all have alot of new growth and many buds. It isn't supposed to get that cold again for the next week.

The open house went well with all of DS's teachers saying he was doing ok. It is recommended that we move him from his B level science class to A level. We are all for this because we know he can do the work, he just needs the motivation.

Frank Capra Jr. came to speak at the magnet school DS attends. I thought that was pretty cool and so did he.

It's a long drive out to the retreat tonight, right in the middle of rush hour. I am hoping that the traffic won't be too bad. Dinner will be quiet, with only 2 of us (or maybe 4) eating. The area is beautiful and it might be warm enough to take a walk.

I feel kind of bad for T. today. E. is going on her first field trip and because of the new baby she can't go and Mom is going instead. That must be really hard. I rescued her from a couple of garden snakes that W. dug out of the ground. He bit the bigger one's tail which really ticked it off and it tried to bite both of us. I did move them both to a stone wall, but I am not sure that T really liked that. She kept a close watch on C. and wouldn't let her out of her sight.

At least I'm awake now and not so cold. We turned the air conditioning up because it was too warm at the beginning of the week, today it was way too cold. I finally have something to do. The book order I placed earlier was entered wrong and now I have to do it again. That will be a task for tomorrow. DS's science teacher has still not called me. He did/could not complete an assignment and I want to get the whole story before I decide what to do. It is very irritating that they do not respond to calls. There is still time today, but not much. Maybe she'll still call. Tonight is open house, so we will get a chance to see and meet her then but I doubt there will be time to talk to her. I am also concerned how he is doing with social activities but I don't want to seem like I am bugging him about it. Tomorrow I will talk to M. about it and suggest that she and DS talk alone.
I am going on what has turned out to be a very intimate retreat. There will only be 7 of us. Speaking of social activities, I am a bit nervous about the retreat, but have to be confident about myself. It will be a good learning experience in more than one way. When I wrote earlier today about Friday night I forgot about the retreat. Shows just how awake I was!
Only a little over an hour left!

I can't remember last night's dream but I know it was an ok dream, not a nightmare. One of us has had a meeting every night this week. Tonight is open house and we are going to that. Friday night is free so far and I can't wait. I feel very sleepy today-could it be boredom seeping in? I have to think up a topic so I can write another article and try my hand again to see if I get published. I am still waiting for a couple of books to arrive so I will have something to catalog.

Nightmare

Last night's nightmare involved a witch who used me to have sex with men who wanted it. She also had killed many girls and the bodies were in the attic. The really scary part was that once I was rescued everyone thought that she was dead, but I knew she wasn't and would do the same to other girls (both killing girls and selling live ones as prostitutes.) I can't figure this one out. The house the woman lived in was a beautiful house and had a heated pool and jacuzzi, which I was allowed to use. The bodies were up in the attic space in that room that I never want to enter. This one was especially weird. At least I didn't wake up screaming from this one.
It is official, I am bored with little to do. I can't believe it is only the third week of school. (Actually I do have something to do-I can move books if I want to-but I don't want to.)

Well, school is back in session and things are going well. There are always a few hitches in a new building. The rest is pretty much the same. I am already getting close to the end of new work to do and boredom will soon set in. I have started earnestly looking for a new job. I don't know what will happen, but everything in its own time. Anxiety was a problem for the couple of days of school, but that is mostly gone. I am going on a retreat this weekend-with no one I know so it will make me a bit nervous. Things seem to be going well for DS he has kept up with homework so far and appears to be adjusting well to both new schools. BH is doing the same as always, contented, though he is still adjusting to his braces. Back to work.

I think I finally realized why I don't like it when BH goes away. I'm afraid he woon't come back. Everything that is him, his toiletries, some of his clothes, he takes with him. That's why I get so anxious. But he will come back because he loves me and I love him and I do my best to be a good wife. But this time I know he will come back.

Summer is definitely here and has been for a while. In addition to extra rain this spring and early summer, the sultry days have made part of our backyard into a jungle. I have to wait to mow it until next week when I get my scythe back from my Dad. Thoughts of cutting have been hanging around the past week or two. Dr. S. said that it has to do with my low self-esteem. While I am sure that is part of it, it also has to do with just getting over with it and then not having to fight it anymore. I am seeing more how how chronically ill people have to take things day by day.

I went to a retirement party tonight for a fellow teacher. It's really great for her to be retiring after 40 years of teaching, but we will miss her. She was a great teacher and is a good person.

I didn't really feel like taking my meds last night. Even the thought of counting them out made me feel tired. I don't know why, it just did. I did take everything though they were difficult to swallow. It had been a busy day and there were too many things going on so maybe that was it. Lately I have been very anxious about driving anywhere. I'm concerned we'll get into an accident. This is especially true when we leave DS at home. I worry what would happen to him if something happened to us. I guess that's a good thing since before I thought it wouldn't matter to him if something happened to me. Anyway, I'm feeling better today and now if I can just get through the next week of school.

Temperature's rising

It's 84 degrees in the office today. We thought the cooler weather outside might help, but it hasn't. Sometimes I do things that are so stupid. A student came in to hook a keywording machine to a computer, but I couldn't find a place to put it on the computer. When I went to ask J. he carefully unplugged the wrong end and plugged in the right end. Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes. We had a weird and wicked lightning bolt last night. It hit something one road over. It came out of nowhere, no thunder, no rain, just this bolt so strong, it made the house shake. It hit something one road over and produced smoke, but no problems at our house, besides the ringing ears and hastened heartbeat. We are supposed to have more storms today, which I'm hoping hold off until the guys finish up at Six Flags.

Summer is here!?

With the advent of warm weather, the heat is gradually rising in the library and the office. It is up to 84 degrees today in the office and not much cooler outside. The temperature is expected to be lower tomorrow so we may catch a break. Everybody who comes in complains which doesn't help. Right now I just want teh day to end. I had very strong urges to cut last night, but I didn't. I seem to be uptight about something, but I am not sure what. Even my asthma is acting up. Working out this afternoon may help, though I dread the heat. Well, back to work.

Boredom

Things have been a bit boring lately at work. While we wait to get packing, we have time periods when there is little to do. I am using it to do some reading of books I should be familiar with just in case. Things have been going quietly at home. I still have dark insights to events that I wish would go away, I guess I still need to work on that. Rather than thinking about the bad things that could happen, I need to forget about them and concentrate on good things. Next weekend is just for us. We will go visit Pop and that is the only thing we will definitely be doing. Oh, we also have to get a new mailbox in because the only is currently being held together with duct tape, which of course matches the front door and the bathtub. Quite lovely, especially with the pink tile in the tub! One day it will all be gone, I can't wait!

While things can be boring, it can also be scary exciting. There is some kind of feud going on between some students and there was a confrontation today, which may continue on into other passing periods. There were no other adults out there which can be unnerving. It is amazing what people can argue about, and unfortunately it doesn't all get worked out in a nice way. Hopefully this is not one of those situations. I find it scary because DS will be at the high school next year with kids like this. I don't know how the vice principals and principal deal with all this conflict. I think I prefer the boring times.