Skipping Town

I had to work half a day today. Greta read and Lucia worked on geometry. After lunch, we read in hammocks, my favorite activity, then went to pick up some groceries. Andrew then went on his annual long run (6.5 miles) while the girls and I went to the pond. The turtle made an immediate appearance, and then just kept appearing. The girls stayed mostly on the dock but did venture off to float around on inflatables, occasionally falling off into the turtle-infested water. At one point, when they were both on the dock, the turtle sidled right up next to them--and they both REACHED INTO THE WATER TO TOUCH ITS SHELL, like they were at the touch-tank at a children's zoo. Meanwhile, just moments prior, they'd watched the turtle snap out and devour a tadpole. "My feet were in the water when it did that!" Greta said excitedly. Wow. Anyway, they said touching the turtle felt like "touching a rock." The turtle did not seem to be aware of what was happening.  The girls a

No work for me again today, another day of "PTO" as they say (paid time off). Lucia and Andrew worked on geometry this morning until Andrew had to get to some meetings. The girls and I gathered in our hammocks to read, but we quickly realized that none of us had *exactly* what we wanted to be reading today; so we headed to Books-A-Million to make our perfect selections. We also went to the comics store next door, where the girls each bought a new Funko Pop for their collections (Lucia got Elsa; Greta got Pocahontas). After coming home and having lunch, we spent the next couple of hours--two? three?--in our hammocks, silent, reading. A perfect afternoon. Then the girls met with their math tutors online, I made dinner, and we ate dinner outside. A nice, quiet, bookish day. Last night, long after I wrote my post, Andrew convinced us to go outside to look at the stars since the sky was very clear. The girls and Andrew lay on a blanket for a while in the front yard; I stayed close

Five years ago, a tiny baby doodle was born at Creampuff Farm, a doodle that would, eight weeks later, become our Farrah. Happy 5th birthday to the sweetest doodle in the world!  To celebrate, we all piled in the car to get ice cream at our favorite spot, because they have Pup Cups--ice cream topped with a strip of bacon. We were horrified to discover that they are closed all week for vacation. Instead, we bought ice cream and bacon at the grocery store and made Farrah a Pup Cup at home. We gave her two new frisbee-like toys, her favorite thing to chase around the yard here. Can't believe we've had her for five years. Can't imagine life without her. Greta and I got up early and went running. She did 2.5 miles while I wheezed through my run/walk. However, to be fair to myself, my training program now has me running for 5 minutes at a time--as a non-runner, being able to run for five minutes straight without keeling over or injuring myself is an accomplishment. Every morning