New Yellow Pencils

School started today in our neighborhood. For three years now C and I have NOT been there to greet our new students. Somehow, it still tugs at my heartstrings. We are glad we retired and we only need to read the newspaper headings about how students are performing in the Standardized Tests to remember why we retired, but the thought of new students, new expections and new pencils can make me melancholy. Todays new students will hope that their new teacher is cool (awesome), their expections will be for great friends and terrific learning experiences, and their pencils will be push pencils with scented lead! I have already bought mine. I don't by any means need new pencils, but I have them. I wish the best for the kids today and a tiny bit of me wishes I were going to be there at the door to greet them (with my new pencils).
P.S. Yes, kids still need pencils today but they also need a TON of other stuff. The marker boards in their classrooms require them to provide dozens of markers. Do you know how many crates of chalk you could buy with all those markers?

Sitting on a Log

This is one of our favorite pictures of our four girls. We were camping in the Uintas behind Mirror Lake. They are all so happy. Tory is about ten, Lucy is two, Megan is around eight and Erin is six. Wonderful times!

First Post

Here we are and Off We Go! All four of my daughters have blogs and Mom has been dragging her feet. So now, they are tutoring me. (Funny how they grow up and become so smart.) Now we, CS and I, are off on a new adventure on the net.