Topstone- Summer 2023

We love our local pond, Topstone. It's a summer tradition. 

 

Norah was working full time all summer, but she was able to come with us one Saturday. 

We just enjoy sitting still and feeling the warm air. 

The younger girls took a week of swim lessons. They already knew all the strokes well from previous years of lessons at the pond, but it was a good review. And they learned to dive from the floating dock this year, something neither of them could do. 

Dwayne's new company car is a Jeep Rubicon. We often beg him to let us take it for the day. One of the days we went to the pond, we got to drive the Jeep with the front top off. It is SO FUN to drive in summer! 

 

Avril Begins Challenge 1

 

Avril started Challenge 1! 

In reference to the size of her book bag, Avril said, "I feel like Christian." (From Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress)

Annotating American documents on Day 1 Week 2 At Home 

Developing successful organizational techniques

I edited the seasonal decorations to capture the mood in our house as another school year begins.

Norah's Sophomore Year Begins

We spent a few days with Norah in Franklin, TN. 

The days were packed with school appointments for Norah, lovely visits with important people in Norah's life, and school events with all the students and their families. 

We moved Norah from one apartment to another and helped her shop for necessities, everything from food for the week to clothing for the semester. 

Above is a picture of the student body of New College. Norah's in the middle waving. 

Avril and Adele and I flew to visit my mom and sister in South Carolina. We try to go to my mom's for a week every summer. We usually swim at her pool everyday, but the August heat was downright oppressive, so we only went to the pool only once all week and that was in the evening, and even that time of day was unpleasant since the water was so warm.  

One of my favorite things about my mom's house are the photos on the walls. It is not difficult to see the similarities between generations. Above and below are photos of my oldest daughter and myself at the similar ages.

Notice the similarities between my youngest daughter on the left and myself on the right in this collage. 

Below are photos from the same collage of my dad and youngest both wearing toy weapons. 

My mom has an abundance of magazines. She receives them and reads them and collects them all year. So each summer, we make collages and throw out the magazines when we are done. This year, we put our  collages in the girls' Smashbooks. Avril allowed me to make some pages for her Smashbook. I made a page of the seasons, one about reading through the seasons, another about art, and another about Challenge. 

My mom's cats appear to be getting used to us after so many years of visits. That is to say, they didn't hide most of the time and once or twice, they actually jumped up to where we sat or sat near us and let us pet them. 

We cooked a lot of our own meals, but we also had Familari's pizza (twice) and visited Smashburgers, Sweetwater, and Madres.'

Up until now, my dad's remains have been with my mom, because she wasn't ready to bury him. But this visit, we finally had my dad's remains buried in a beautiful Woden urn in a spot with the open sky above in Summerville's cemetery. I finally ordered his tombstone. Knowing my dad's sacred body is laid to rest sets my spirit at ease. My mom is keeping a beautiful urn in his memory.