Life Lately

Two of our granddaughters are cheering. Our oldest is in the middle below. She is in the 5th grade and is looking so grown up!

Last Monday night was Homecoming for her team.

Her daddy escorted her on the field!

Gosh - I love these two!!

On Friday, I did some work from home and I did a ton of homework. I also stripped our bed, washed the sheets, and remade the bed and washed my work clothes. While I did homework, I ran the roombas upstairs and down. Mark was at the farm so the house was quiet. I ordered groceries and had them delivered. I had planned to run a couple of errands, but didn't. Friday night I watched YouTube videos about York and Bath and made a list of pubs and places to see.

On Saturday morning, I was in the car before 7:00 a.m. and drove two hours south to watch our middle granddaughter cheer. She is 7 and the difference between the 10 year old squad and the 7 year old squad is pretty amazing. Those 7 year olds are cuties!! Our granddaughter is on the back row, second from the left.

There are so many girls on their squad! Even though it was cool when we all woke up, by 9:00 a.m. it was hot in the direct sun!

The little one was tired of being hot so her mama took her on a walk and they found some shade and a popsicle.

The girls did their half-time routine.

The game lasted about an hour. I had purchased some clothes for these two granddaughters at our church consignment sale so we moved those clothes from my car into our daughter's care. I hopped back into my car and drove 2 hours north. It was worth it to see the girls for a few minutes.

It was a gorgeous fall day - look at that blue sky!! That is a waterway (creek? branch? ??) that runs into Lake Jordan. Yes, I was driving and I had my eyes on the road - I was snapping photos blindly with one hand.

Our daughter and son-in-law told us about a "short-cut" and the drive is really beautiful. There are fields and crops and cows and water. It is very rural and there are a lot of trailers along the way, too, along with some lovely homes.

Look how pretty this lawn is with the trees and grass against the blue sky!

See the trees below? They are called Empress Splendor and they are not native to Alabama. Some say they are invasive. Everytime we've driven by them, we've tried to figure out what kind of trees they are. I was finally able to snap a photo of the sign and googled it when I got home. These are the fastest growing hardwood tree in the world. This tree can grow up to 20 feet in one year!

While I was on the road and Mark was at the farm, he picked a 5 gallon bucket of Spider Lilies. I think he and George actually picked (cut) two 5 gallon buckets - one for me and one for Alice, George's wife. This afternoon, I trimmed them and put them in vases all over the house. I have some on the dining room table.

I have some on the kitchen island.

I have some in the powder room.

I have some on the chest in front of the sofa.

Look at this bucket of flowers. They are so pretty!!

Of course since it is Sunday, I worked this morning. At noon we had a "trip meeting" for our upcoming England/Ireland trip. We have 70 people going - 2 buses full. I am a bus captain on one bus and my friend and co-worker, Laura, is the other bus captain. Brian, our senior pastor, will go back and forth between the two buses. Did you know that there are 365 pubs in York??

This afternoon Mark browned the ground beef and hot sausage and I cooked the pasta and grated the cheese. I made Killer Ziti for the Young Adults to eat on Tuesday night. In addition to ground beef and hot breakfast sausage, it has tiny pepperonis in it, too.

Mark made Mexican Chicken Soup last night for dinner and we are having leftovers for dinner tonight. He did a great job!

I hope you had a great week and weekend!