Well, We Are Still Here

Fall, not spring, always sparks in me the idea of renewal. I think as farmer kid the harvest always seemed like the end of a cycle and the start of something new, not spring. Spring is in the middle of everything.

Anyway, if anyone still has us linked and occasionaly looks in on us... we are still here in Texas. This summer I was in Mexico, Carol was in California, and we all went to Montana and all points in between. In short, we happily spent the summer away from Texas. Now, of course, we are back in Texas... where fall doesn't seem to mark the end of the hot weather.

More pics of Our Helen

Photo Shoot!
For all of those who have been wondering why there were not a million ba-zillion pictures of Helen up here: I lost the cord to download. But I have found it so Let the pictures begin. This is from our most recent session. She loves having her picture taken, and will sit and smile quite nicely.

Vienna, West Virginia

Ok... who do we know in Vienna, West Virginia? It is driving me nuts seeing all these visits to the family site and to my Latin America blog. Who DO we know that lives in West Virginia?

Homeward Bound

Carol is on her way home. She tells me she has left her phone charger in Boston, so she may not be returning calls. Sorry to all who feel slighted.

Isaac at School - part deux (ahhh...commie French numbers)

Isaac at School

Today Isaac heard the president tell him to set educational goals, exercise, and eat good foods. Naturally, such things can only lead to one place, and this is my son this afternoon:

Chattanooga

Much to Oliver's delight, Carol has arrived in Chattanooga, TN. She reports that there are indeed choo choos everywhere. Or, as Oliver refers to the train yards "whole train sets."

Boston

Carol headed for Boston today with Oliver and Helen. Isaac and I are planning on some serious "man time."

Greatest American Hero

So, Isaac says "How come I'm not flying." He calls himself superman flier.

Jason says: "Maybe he lost the manual to the suit." (A thing that is very funny to a child of the 80s. HAHAHAHAHA)

Meteor Shower

What to do when you get up at midnight to a boy with a wet bed? Hmmmm. Watch the Perseid shower - after Ollie takes a shower.
:)
We got Isaac up too, and then went to the backyard to look up at the night sky. It was very neat. Jason and Isaac saw a few, mom saw a few. and Oliver saw the trucks on the highway in front of our house.

Yeah. Oliver likes trucks. Helen slept through the whole thing. Thank goodness.

Just wondering

Tomorrow is baking day. I was thinking about trying some different things. I haven't tried selling a rye for almost half a year. Is Nacogdoches ready for it yet? I just need to decide if I will go with a light Jewish rye, or a denser German rye. Hmmm. Decisions, decisions.

On another note, I got out a bunch of neat books on bking. I am trying to get new ideas for finishing the loaves. (ie scoring) I think I found a few to try. One is this pretty braid, and onther is almost liking wrapping paper. We will see how it turns out. If I think it's pretty enough I will take a picture. If I remember tomorrow.

Oh, One last thing: Come by my booth on Saturday. If you mention the blog you will get a dollar off! I'll know you read it when you mention the Italian Herb bread pictured above.

Midwestern Fantasy or, A Drive Through The Middle of The Country

Jason's Mom came to visit (yep, he has family, too) during June. We gathered her up from the airport in Dallas and just kept driving north. We got caught in a whale of a storm in Oklahoma but had a pleasant night in a KOA in Checotah, OK that had a petting zoo... sort of.

Then we headed north to Kansas to visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder home (sort of) in Independence, KS. This was a GREAT stop on the trip, mostly because it was the first time we had been out of the humidity for ages - and Jason was excited to get out of the trees! Carol got to see lots of things that were in the books and her favorite thing was seeing how small everything was...these people were teeny-weeny. The tractor was NOT part of the original "Little House" equipment but it was, however, Oliver's favorite part of the trip. Isaac loved petting the donkeys.

Next we headed to Springfield, MO. Our destination was the Laura Ingalls Wilder adult home, but we also ate flying rolls at Lambert's Cafe...ouch. We also visited some "fantastic" caverns in the area.

We headed north to Nauvoo which was supposed to be our ending destination. Carol visited with her friend Debbie, Oliver pooped on Debbie's floor, and through a series of miscommunications we saw very little of Nauvoo. We did stop in Carthage, IL, however, and we had a very nice visit there.

We spent the night next to a train track and a cemetery in St. Louis - it had a KOA sign in front but we doubt it was really a KOA. We had a very nice day at the St. Louis Zoo. Oliver rode the train literally for hours, but his favorite thing was the penguin house (or was that Jason's favorite thing) where you got so close to the penguins they splash you. Isaac loved the bears eating fish. Carol was a big fan of the carousel as well as watching people trying to feed monkeys that you can't really feed and used to be birds. Long story.

After St. Louis we drifted south in a pouring, pounding, horrific rain storm to southern Illinois, western Kentucky, and on to Memphis. We stayed two nights a KOA in Marion, AK, and the whole day in Memphis at the Mud Island river park. Isaac loved the replica Mississippi River while Doris rode a river boat. We also saw Beal Street (whoa - tourist trap). Jason got chiggers.

Our final day was a sprint across Arkansas back to Texas (if anything can make Louisiana look good, it is Arkansas). Isaac got to have an icecream at Dairy Queen when we got back to Texas.

Carol drove the entire trip. Jason navigated. Boys screamed. Helen slept. Doris tried to keep the boys from waking up Helen.

Market Madness

Helen has started coming to the market with me on Saturdays. She is an excellent helper becasue she brings in the customers. I do need to be careful since her smile starts at her toes that she doesn't kick anything over.

Today was a good day. There were lots of new vendors, and plenty of new customers. Looks like Texans do come out in the heat. We sold out of everything except a few items that I wanted to eat anyway!

Graduation / Demon Possession

Last week Isaac graduated from Pre-K at Christ Episcopal School. I thought about reducing the red eye in this pic, but the demon possession look is pretty fun - all things considered.

Anyway, he had a great time in school and a fantastic class and teacher. Now he and Oliver live in the swimming pool at the University - pictures of them swimming and of Carol's sun burn to come.

Dick Cheney Seeks Work

The recent outbursts (?) from former VP Cheney reminded me of a VERY funny Star Wars video we first saw a couple years ago. I imagine VP Cheney to be up to about the same thing - especially the scene with the puppy.

Family Fur

We were really blessed to have Carol's dad come for the baby blessing and to stay for a couple days. The boys were VERY excited, and they couldn't get enough of Grandpa. When I asked Isaac what is favorite thing about grandpa's visit was he said (yelled) "EVERYTHING!"

When it was time for him to leave, the boys had some pictures made with him and they ALL had mustaches.

Torn - but had to share: The Divine Numbers

I received the following email from a student. I just informed her that the math was just not there for her to pass the course, so she would be better served studying for another class. This was her reply:

I thank you for imforming me that I will not pass your class but Im not going to give up and not show up for the exam. I believe that God has the last word in my grade therefore I will be at the exam on tomorrow. I dont understand why there is no possible way for me to pass because I attend class and both of my test grades were in the fifty's but my final could at least pull me up to a D depending on my grade. I have faith in God and if I do not show up that just shows that the devil got his way. So I will see you tomorrow.

Ok. I appreciate her faith, but man...I'm not sure what sort of mathematical trick or gemmatria could change things for her.

Jason Needs a Toilet (just for fun)

Ok, so I gave in to this really cheesy idea, but it turned out to be fun. Google the phrase “(your name) needs” and point out the first ten that come up. Here is mine:

1) Jason needs a Pismo
2) Jason needs a toilet (fast)
3) Jason needs a diet
4) Jason needs a shirt
5) Jason needs a professional profile
6) Jason needs a ring
7) Jason needs to die
8) Jason needs a pitchfork
9) Jason needs a slap
10) Jason needs help making a film

It was funny…but a little unpleasant to conceptualize. A toilet and a pitchfork? Yowza.


How about Carol…..

1) Carol needs our help
2) Carol needs a change
3) Carol needs assessment
4) Carol needs toast
5) Carol needs a teapot
6) Carol needs more busts
7) Carol needs 2000 more miles
8) Carol needs a naturally occurring flavor
9) Carol needs a forever family
10) Carol needs your prayers

Carol’s was a little less dangerous…like the needs nice people have. Of course, I just realized that half the sites my googling brought up were sites about Jason the famous horror movie character.

Time to make the Bagels...

Incase anyone wondered, we are still in the bread business. Every Friday we bake and bake and bake. Everyone in the family helps out.
Mom does most of the mixing and kneading - what people think of when they hear "you bake at home."
Dad is bagel boiler, and kid watcher, and emergency "I need XXX atthe store." person.
Isaac is extra helpful when it comes to baging the breads, and putting them in the baskets that we use to transport to the market. He is also good at playing outside while the stuff is baking, and eating on the porch for lunch.
Oliver is wonderful at playing near Helen while mom bakes in the morning. He keeps her entertained and happy. He is a wonderful brother. He also is our resident dough tester. Keeps mom on her toes and the dough tasting great!
Helen is a great baby, keeps mom smiling while she bakes, and Oliver busy. Because without Helen, Oliver gets into lots of messes.

Baking day can be a bit trying on the nerves, and a crazy busy day in general, but I love it.