Instead of doing lesson plans...

We are really getting into this grandparent thing.  Spending 10 days with Julia in Ohio was great fun.  She has all the cuteness of a two year old.  . It's unbelievable how much she reminds us of Becky at that age, both in looks and personality.  Becky and Scott are busy planning out Julia's big girl room, so we were able to add our comments to that design.  Julia wants purple, but I think they are going for less drama.

 It was also fun helping Dan organize himself from his Kroger apartment into his real apartment.  It's in the same building, just on Floor 24 instead of Floor 23, so it's not a huge move, but his view changed from river front to cityscape. He is well-placed,  within walking distance to work, the football and baseball stadiums, the pedestrian bridge to the Kentucky side of the river ,and the social life of both downtown and Mt Adams.   

Scott, Julia, Dan waiting for the start of a concert along the Ohio River

As for Krista, she isn't spending all of her time kissing dolphins.  She is nervously preparing for her new position as first and only counselor at a charter school in Oakland.  It should be an interesting year for her as she navigates her way through setting up a counseling department and working outside the definitions set by a traditional high school.  

We got back to Chattanooga to find that there has been quite a bit of work done on our lot.  It was going so slowly until we left, but the adage about the watched pot seems true here.  I don't remember spending this  much time and effort  planning when we built our house on Laura Ct.  Possibly we didn't pay as much attention or there are a lot more choices out there now, but this is a full time job for both of us.  We are either running around Chattanooga to look at ideas in person or we are online doing research, using  planning tools, or looking at pictures for inspiration.  Houzz and the gardenweb forum have become my go-to sites.  I must admit, we are both enjoying this process so it is a great way to spend a year of retirement.

Our apartment is at the base of Signal Mountain, actually still in Chattanooga and our new home is up the mountain, just past the crest.   Normally it is a 20 minute drive, but this week it has been taking us an hour to drive the distance on Highway 127.  Those of you HGTV watchers will recognize that as the route of the longest garage sale in the country, lasting a week and stretching from Alabama to Michigan.  The amount of traffic along that small rural road through the town of Signal Mountain this week has been crazy, and, of course, everyone is driving slowly trying to decide which sales look interesting.  Avoiding pedestrians crossing the street with their treasures is a challenge as well.  We stopped at a few places, but without a house and with our own junk still in storage it is a little hard to seriously look at someone else's castoffs.  But, if any of you are pickers, feel free to reserve our guest room  for next August. 

 Blue Cross Blue Shield, which is headquartered in Chattanooga, recently started a program called Silverlife and dedicated a building to its use.  This is the prototype of a program they want to expand to other locations.  Its goal is to support people over fifty in their quest for good health, which includes lifelong learning. At this point there is not much going on there, but I am taking a six-week class on writing memoirs which is run jointly through Silverlife and the public library.  There are 35 of us in the class, with wonderful stories to tell.  Compared to them I feel a bit like a writer for Seinfeld, trying to make something interesting out of non-events, but it does challenge a part of me that has been in hiding for awhile.

Love to you all