July 31, 2008 @ 8:17 pm | Filed under: Family, Travel
We left on vacation late yesterday afternoon. But before beginning TRUE vacation, Mike has sales calls to make in West Texas and in New Mexico. So I am tagging along for the ride, armed with books and magazines to keep me occupied while he does all the workerly stuff.
Today we visited two windmill farms where he had meetings lined up. I have to say that this was almost like a field trip for me. Totally interesting. These white mills are visible for miles and - once you’re on the farm itself, they stretch for as far as the eye can see.
The towers stand up to 160 feet tall and each of the three blades are up to EIGHTY feet long! The towers - though they look like skinny trunks in the picture and from a distance - actually are anywhere from 8 feet in diameter all the way up to 12 feet.
Wind energy is definitely the wave of the future. But this future is still quite a long way off. The US ranks second in wind energy, second only to Germany. But even so, wind AND solar energy combined only make up about 1% of the energy on our country’s grid. And wind alone only makes up about 1/2 of 1%.
Still - it’s pretty cool to look at these beautiful (they really ARE beautiful) windmills that line the West Texas ridges and know what they are capable of producing.
July 30, 2008 @ 10:11 pm | Filed under: Family, Summer at the ballpark
Pops took Carter to the game on Tuesday night. I’m still not sure who was more excited - the Pops or the Grandson! From what I hear, they enjoyed hot dogs, ice cream, and hanging out with Deuce!
baseball, grandchildren, Rough Riders
July 25, 2008 @ 9:41 am | Filed under: It's a Girl Thing
Onesoles
Cute covers!
When I was in Kemah a few weeks ago, I did a bit of shopping in the coolest little shop.
I found these great shoes (which I am now wearing on an almost daily basis!) called OneSoles. What you do is this. You pick out the sole you want (Mine is a black wedge) and each pair of soles comes with a standard cover. (Usually either black or tan.) Then you can buy all of these cute little covers to change the look of your shoes!
So cool!
July 23, 2008 @ 8:19 pm | Filed under: Books, The Writing Life
July 21, 2008 @ 3:03 pm | Filed under: Family, Pure Sunshine
My niece, Madie, has loved horses just about all her life. She likes play horses, movies about horses, clothing with pictures of horses on them…You name it. If a horse is involved, Madie is sure to be interested.
So it was so much fun to go to the Capricorn Equestrian center on Friday and watch her ride an actual horse! She attended a day camp here all week long and loved it.
The grand finale of the Friday afternoon event was seeing Madie win a blue ribbon for FIRST PLACE in her equestrian class!
I think it’s official now. We now have our first horsewoman in the family.
And what a cute one she is!
July 18, 2008 @ 2:58 pm | Filed under: Current Affairs
Those of you who know me well know that I am so NOT a pet person. However, even I had tears well up in my eyes the first time I was shown this video clip.
Love is a powerful, powerful thing.
Where would any of us be without it?
July 16, 2008 @ 3:02 pm | Filed under: Family, Summer at the ballpark
For Father’s Day this year, I gave Dad an evening out with his one and only daughter - ME!
Last night was the night. We went to the Rider game together and - though it rained BUCKETS - we had such a great time.
Daddy is one of the handful of people in my life that I can sit and talk with for, literally, hours. And that is just what we did last night.
After introducing him to the wonder that IS Founder Club Membership, we toured the various ballpark restaurants and finally settled at a table in the JC Penney Clubhouse, right next to a window overlooking home plate. Not a bad way to enjoy all - the game, my dad, and the much-needed North Texas rain!
ballpark, dads and daughters, Family
July 15, 2008 @ 12:01 pm | Filed under: The Solid Rock, Uniquely Me
Poets and writers - for as far back as literature and songs go - have inspired mankind with the promise of renewal. A time of rejuvenation for the soul.
For those of us who know God, we know that true renewal only comes from Him.
But - although in a somewhat lesser sense - if we’re looking for it, we can find hints of this respite all around us. I believe it is His promise to us.
Night eventually turns into day. Winter slowly melds into Spring. For every tide that crashes onto sandy shores, one more is already rising up behind it.
Maybe the Disney lyrics to Lion King say it best,
It’s the circle of life and it moves us all through despair and hope, through faith and love until we find our place on the path unwinding…in the circle - the circle of life.
I am trying to be very conscience these days of the difference between being ‘busy’ and being ‘productive.’ I feel a sense of urgency to be productive, to use my time and energy wisely. I have my hand in a lot of things right now, and daily examine myself to make sure I am supposed to be in all of these places.
The challenge is to always bring the best of what I have to offer to each of the things I am actively involved in. Some day I can’t say that I feel successful. Not at all.
Still…at the end of days like today, when I’ve tackled a lot and not really felt all that successful at any of it, I feel Him.
This is a season in my life. For whatever reason, I’ve felt a special urgency in my life this past year. I don’t really know what it means now, or what it will come to mean in the future, but I only know to trust Him and to swim in these waters that are most definitely over my head.
Day will majestically come.
Spring will gloriously arrive.
Waves of inspiration will pound the shores of my existence.
The tides of time.
On those days when I am feeling overwhelmed, underqualified, and inadequate, I know that I need only to lean back in Him and ride the tide to shore. Scary? Sure.
But the ride is more than worth the price of admission.
July 12, 2008 @ 11:32 am | Filed under: Family, The Fit Life
A year ago this week, I began running. Looking back, it makes me laugh to think that I could scarcely run sixty seconds straight without running out of breath and out of steam.
These days I continue to run a steady and consistent 3-4 miles several times a week. Running has given me so much: better health, better mental clarity, and…has bonded me in a special way with Braxton!
This is a picture of Braxton with his proud parents, Brian and Stefanie (my cousin.) On Friday, Braxton ran in his regional track finals and I went to watch. Braxton ran a 6:20 mile and I couldn’t have been more proud if he’d been my own son!
Way to go, Braxton!
July 10, 2008 @ 11:57 am | Filed under: The Writing Life, Uniquely Me
- If you win, do not brag; if you lose, do not show anger.
- When meeting new people, shake hands and repeat their names.
- If someone bumps into you, say excuse me, even if it was not your fault.
- If you are asked a question in conversation, ask a question in return.
- Do not stare at a student who is being reprimanded.
- Do not ask for a reward.
- In a hotel room, leave a tip for the hotel workers who clean your room.
- Make eye contact.
- Stand up for what you believe in.
- Live so that you will have no regrets.
I’m reading Ron Clark’s The Essential 55 again. He is a teacher who is known for the amazing inroads he has made with underprivileged, undernourished, undereducated students in rural North Carolina.
I wake up some days and am still amazed that I’ve made the decision to teach. Me - the same girl who grew up swearing (that would be figuratively, not literally) that she would never teach. While I’ve always had a healthy respect for my dad’s career and have had some amazing teachers in my own life, I wanted something different.
Or thought I wanted something different.
This desire to teach is something that is more like a calling to me right now, I guess. It’s a part of that urgency that is burning in me. I think that maybe I am just now at the point in my life where I am ready to fill up young minds with exciting possibilities that can be theirs. That should be theirs.
There is just something so special about young minds - when the mind and the heart is so open to influence - that tugs at my heart. Makes me want to help channel all that energy into positive avenues. Creative avenues. Avenues that will leave them changed, that will make them thinkers for life.
I believe that writing can do that for a person. It is a way to work through issues, to create a world of your own, to reach out and touch someone, to leave your fingerprints all over this life by the words you pen…
I want to teach that.
