Sunday Salon, May 24

Photo by Don Bennett

Weather: Overcast and cool.

Projects: Don is working on expanding the rose bed which involves moving the sprinklers, screening dirt, and moving heavy bricks around. After working in the yard all afternoon he finally came in for dinner with this announcement: "This is hard work. I was a lot stronger when I built the wall sixteen years ago." One more thing to add to list about aging.

Babysitting a cat: Carly is spending the week-end at her sister's house babysitting their cat. Who has ever heard of a cat that needs to be babysat? Apparently Elfie does because she will eat and eat and eat and not stop so they cannot leave a big bowl of food out for her if they are gone for the week-end.

Victoria, BC: Rita and Dan went to Victoria for her birthday week-end. We will have a little birthday party for her when they return home Monday. Is she 27 or 28? I can't keep track!

Student Led Conferences: Our advisory students held SLC for their parents this past week. Since I am a senior adviser my students had to present their culminating project and a passing score was necessary for graduation. Nineteen of my students were successful. Yay, one more thing done on their march toward the final days of high school. Two of my students, unfortunately, hadn't done enough work to even qualify to present their project. It is sad when students don't put all the pieces together to graduate on time.

SYNC Audiobooks: I want to remind you audiobook lovers about the FREE audiobooks available from SYNC this summer. You get two free audiobooks per week but must act within the week or you will lose out on that week's choices. This week's choices are two fabulous audiobooks about the African-American experience in America: X: a novel by Kekla Magoon and Here in Harlem poems by Walter Dean Myers. (This set expires 5/28/15 at 7 AM EST.)

Quiet week-end: Don and I are staying close to home this Memorial Day; just a quiet week-end for us. Pentecost Sunday is today. This is the day on the church calendar when we celebrate God sending his Holy Spirit to live inside believers empowering them to do his work on Earth. Everyone in our church is encouraged to wear red as a symbol of flames of the Holy Spirit. I had to search high and low to find my red sweater, finally finding it among my Christmas sweaters hanging in the guest room.

Books read this week:

• At Home in Her Tomb: Lady Dai and the Ancient Chinese Treasures of Mawangdui by Christine Liu-Perkins---a new little, nonfiction book in my library about an old tomb (200 BCE) found in China. It is a fascinating look at the way Lady Di was preserved and the treasures within the tomb.

• Black Dove White Raven by Elizabeth Wein: an audiobook selection about the Italo-Ethiopian War. I learned a lot.
• Here in Harlem: Poems in Many Voices by Walter Dean Myers: another audiobook selection. This was a perfect book in the audio format. Poems were read by a cast of actors.

Currently reading:

• The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma...I'm almost done with this mystery/horror novel.

Praying for a friend who is struggling with depression.

Memorial Day: Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America.