We get by with a little help from our friends

So a good friend of mine recently sustained a badly broken leg. How did she obtain this injury you ask? Her puppy ran over her.  Now this is no ordinary puppy.  The dog’s mom is a golden retriever and the father is supposedly a black lab but we all believe it is actually a moose. Her leg is healing with the aid of a plate and 6 screws. My husband asked when he heard about the incident “Is the dog still alive?  I would have thought about shooting it if it were me but Brien might actually do it.”  Brien is my dear friend’s husband. When I asked my friend Stacey that question she responded “well the kids were there.” Touché. Needless to say my dear friend isn’t doing a lot of gardening so some of us in the garden club got together and went over to weed her garden. We had nice weather and a good time pulling weeds and chatting. I brought my extra good helper as you can see in the pictures.

 

Caelun and Pam Agnello- aka Auntie Pam in the background.

Stacey joins us but has to keep her leg elevated- the moose/dog is hiding. Cindy and Pat work on the flower beds.

April 2009 book- People Of The Book

Once again book club posts have gotten away from me. Our April book was People Of The Book by Geraldine Brooks. She is also the author of March and Year Of Wonders which our book club has also read. We really liked both of those books and we loved this one. We gave it five stars. The history is fabulous as is the story line. The descriptions move you back in time. The characters are engaging and believable. There is quite a bit of Hebrew but it is relatively easily understood in context. I highly recommend it.

FHC Graduation- Presenting the class of 2009

“Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand moments so dear
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure -Measure A Year?”

Season Of Love- Rent

I love graduation but it is such a  bitter sweet time.  I am excited to see all of my wonderful students head off to conquer the world but at the same time I am selfish and I will miss them.  Some of the young men and women I have had in multiple classes over their high school career.

 

  

“In Daylights - In Sunsets -In Midnights - In Cups Of Coffee
In Inches - In Miles -In Laughter - In Strife?
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure A Year In The Life?”

“Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Journeys To Plan
Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes
How Do You Measure The Life Of A Woman Or A Man?”

  “It's Time Now - To Sing Out Though The Story Never Ends
Let's Celebrate Remember A Year In The Life Of Friends”

Yes my friends- please go off and save the world.  It sure does need it.

Spring is still the thing

My sister in-law in HI is missing the tulips and lilacs.  The Lilacs in particular are really spectacular this year.  Theses are the last of my late tulips. Summer is just around the corner as you can see by the poppies cracking and the strawberries blooming.  Mandy here is our  last blast of spring.

 

  

   

      My wonderful neighbors, the Neads, have a really beautiful  lilac bush.

You can see my little garden helper off in the corner of the picture.

        

Here comes summer – peeking through the cracks.

Soon there will be strawberries.

Grand Rapids Knights Of The Round Table

 

Every year the the community service organization The Grand Rapids Knights Of The Round Table sponsors an oratorical scholarship competition.  They hold the competition at the University Club at the top of the 5/3rd Bank Building downtown and treat us to lunch.  1st prize is $1500, 2nd is $750, and 3rd is $250.  The topic this year was “How do we improve education in the United States?” We have competed in this for years and this was the best over all group of speeches I have seen.  It never gets old for me to watch these kids as they grow in their speaking ability.

Andy and Talya on the way in to the University Club.

 

A view from one of the floor to ceiling windows.

 

My students: Alecia, Talya, and Andy fill out their forms.

     

Lew Vandermeer, my colleague at Grand Rapids Christian H.S. brought students as well.  Some of you will remember Lew was the the person who married Clint and I.   

  

Some of the students from GR Christian.

 

Andy and Talya each take a turn to present their speeches.

 

Some of the GR Christian students present.

 

It is Alecia’s turn.

The speeches are over and we wait for the judges to tally the results.

Henry Smitter announces the winners.

Talya won 1st place. Two of the GR Christian students took 2nd, and 3rd. 

The entire talented group of competitors.