More Pictures From Graduation and A Funny Story

This picture was posted on the EVMS flickr sight. It was taken right before the graduation ceremony. I'm glad that someone got a picture of them in caps and gowns, because I didn't. David turned his stuff in IMMEDIATELY after the ceremony, because those were the directions, and he did not want to end up having to pay the $500 late fee. That's my David.

The next two pictures were taken form David's apartment balcony. I know I've shown you the view before, but it's just so beautiful. It really makes me miss being close to the water. He's on the 19th floor, so he can see just about everything. The sun was shining. A breeze was blowing and the air smelled of salt water and honey suckle. We couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

Now for the funny story: So, there is a "small" underground parking lot at the coliseum where the graduation ceremony was held. David was under the impression that it was going to fill up fast and that there would be no spots left by the time that Alan and I got there. All of the students had to be there by 8:30, but since it didn't start until 10:00 we were planning on arriving around 9:15. He suggested that we try the parking ramp across the street. We pulled into the ramp about 9:00 and payed the attendant our $5.oo for event parking. As we drove in we realized that it was practically empty. Since we are always early we didn't think to much about it and tried to find a spot that would make getting out faster. As it turns out we had nothing to worry about. That's our car. Sitting all alone. At least it was easy to find.

Sally

Graduation Day

Well, David did it. He now not only has a BS, but an MS to boot. He's still waiting to hear about medical school admission, but he's feeling hopeful. As soon as we know for sure I'll let you all know. Keep on keeping your fingers crossed for him. Thanks.

The graduation ceremony was lovely. Long, but lovely. The day was perfect, warm and sunny. Just the way I like it. It was so nice to finally meet David's friends. We went out for lunch with some of them and their families and then it was back in the car for the long drive home.

David came with us, so we have a full house again. You just don't know how happy that makes me. My Dad will arrive for the Memorial Day weekend and then we will really be full. Small house lots of people. Where will everyone sit? More importantly, What will everyone eat? I had better get on that.

Happy Monday!

Sally

Water Heater Woes

I'm a little grumpy today. I hate to admit it, but sometimes you just have to be honest. The weather has been miserable here since last Saturday it's been in the 50's and rainy, cold and damp and to top it all off we have no heat. Not sure what happened, but Tuesday night we tried to turn the heater on and no heat came out, then Wednesday morning Alan got up and had to take a cold shower. No hot water. Lovely... We called the plumber and he showed up about 6 hours later. The best part of this story is that our plumber, Robert, is the nephew of the man that built our house. He was so excited to see inside the house again. He told me that he had been to many good Derby parties here. Interesting stories. Anyway he fixed the water heater (or he thought he did). He thought it was just a pilot light thing and he didn't even charge me for the visit. To good to be true? Yep. When we got home from work last night we realized that we still didn't have any hot water. I think that's when I really started getting grumpy. Alan checked and the pilot light was out again. We called the plumbing company and they said they would send someone out within 2 hours. It was about 8:00 when we called and by 10:30 we hadn't seen hide nor hair of a plumber. We called the main number again and told them that we had to go to bed so we would just wait until the morning. Well, it's almost 11:30 and no plumber. I guess there must be a lot of people out there with water heater problems. Hopefully next time you hear from be I will have hot water, the rain will have stopped and the sun will be shining.

Sally

Garden Party Sunday

Despite the miserable rainy, cold weather, Alan and I took a road trip with some friends yesterday to a quaint little town in Indiana. Visiting Madison Indiana is like going back in time. The town sits on the Ohio river and every year in May several of the local homeowners open their back gates for garden tours. As it happens, our friends Gordon and Cathy are good friends with one of these homeowners, Jinny and Larry Hunt. Their beautiful home, the Marshall-Hunt House was built in 1845 and it's just amazing. The Hunt's opened their house to us so we got to tour the house and the garden. Jinny served a delicious lunch and kept us all warm with cups of hot tea. She even sent us all home with bouquets of peonies which are making my house smell like spring. It was a great way to spend a soggy Sunday. These pictures are actually not of Hunt House. This is the Linear Mansion and it's gardens.

The fountain sits in the middle of town, but they haven't turned it on yet.

I guess we will just have to go back when it warms up a bit so I can get some more pictures for you.

Sally

Sally

Getting Going

Sorry you haven't heard from me in a while. We are now members of the Milestone Fitness Center and all of this exercising is cutting into by blogging time. Hopefully I will get into a routine soon and be able to find time for everything. That's always the trick isn't it? When you add something new it seem like something else always has to go. Unless of course you are willing to get up earlier or go to bed later, or maybe just not sleep at all. Well, this girl needs her sleep, so that's staying. Don't worry, I'll figure it out and pretty soon my new schedule will be my new normal. Keeping with our fitness theme, Alan ran a 5K this morning through the zoo. He tried to get Grace and I to do it with him, but we opted out. That's a nice way to say that it was supposed to rain (and it did a little) and we didn't want to get up so early. Poor excuses I know, but it's the truth. When Alan got home we all trotted off to the first Farmers Market of the season. We spent our allotted $20.00 on asparagus, strawberries, honey and a cucumber plant for the garden. Our weekend is off to a great start. hope yours is too.

Sally

The Case of Less is REALLY More

I don't know what you got for Mother's Day, but I think I got the best gift ever. Probably because of all of my complaining about how hard it is to get books from our library. Probably because I started reading World Without End by Ken Follett (thanks to Jorge's recommendation) and the book weighs about 5 lb because it's 1012 pages long. Who reads these giant books? Who writes books that long? Anyway, Alan talked me into getting a Kindle. I have to admit that I didn't take that much convincing. We had done some research and decided that the Kindle was the device for me. I haven't figured out all of it's bells and whistles yet, but this tiny little thing can hold thousands of books, maybe not all as big as World Without End, but still lots and lots of books.

Sally

Happy Day After Mother's Day

Hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing day yesterday. We were in recovery from Derby mode. It was very nice. It was also nice that the weather which was suppose to be cool, drizzily and yuck all day was actually beautiful. I love it when that happens. We concluded the the day watching the finally of the Amazing Race. I was a little disappointed that the team I've been routing for didn't make it to the final 3, but I enjoy the show so much that it doesn't really matter who wins.

We were lucky to finally find some of the "limited addition" Amazing Race Snapple, so we drank our tea and finished up the Derby Pie. Not a bad Mother's Day at all.

Sally