School break is over

Vacation has ended and it was back to work for me today.  Because we don't have a driveway, I left my car part of the time in long term parking.  This meant that I got up early and left early today and was greeted by some lovely colors.  The 'red sky in the morning' poem worked today as there was rain later this afternoon.  The beautiful sky as I walked to the parking lot beamed me a happy for today.  The early morning and having to work on spreadsheets tonight however, has left me exhausted.

The colors are always more vibrant in real life.

While on vacation the science experiment plants

bloomed and have started to turn to seed. 

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Exhaustion-just a happy

Sleep eluded me last night and I used most of my energy today talking with my tenant about the house.  I also got to see some friends again today but I feel I wasn't as there as I should have been because of the lack of sleep.  My happy for today is that things are moving forward, slowly with my house.  But the forward part is what I am happy for.

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Short post- a few pictures

Today started with the great waffle making.  We made a triple batch so I expect to have some for the next few days.  I wanted to make them so I would remember how on Tuesday when we make them at the after school cooking club.  They came out well and having made them today I hope to remember how the recipe goes better on Tuesday to be able to assign the students with tasks.

More people came over and visited and sewed.  Some of us left in the early afternoon to meet up with other friends and go tasting wine at Zorvino Vineyards.  Lovely wines with scenic views of the vineyard and a little pond.  We followed that up with a delicious and very filling meal at Hemmingway's.   All-in-all a very happy day.  I can tell this for sure because my cheeks ache from smiling and laughing. 

Drive by pictures of Lake Massabesic.

Enjoying one of the 6 or 7 different flavors we got to try. 

Roaring river waters. 

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Just a happy

Sunday I will finally be getting together with my tenant to talk about him buying my house.  Tomorrow I am going out with friends for the afternoon and to dinner and today was mostly spent cleaning house.  K is having people over for a sewing party and so some deep cleaning had to happen.   Walked around town today running a few errands in the rain.  My happy for today is laughter with friends. 

The river.  Water seems a bit high.

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Dragon

As I was getting up this morning Gideon comes in and asks me if he can talk to me like I am the DM today.  I was trying to explain to him that I didn't think that was a good idea, that we can't always be in that character voice.  Then he says, "wait, then why are you, aren't you using that voice?"  This is where I explain to him that sometimes when I first wake up my voice is a little husky.   😁  Tonight the players met a dragon, but it was invisible and they didn't have to fight it.  When we played, Gideon became a little too emotionally invested again in the way he wanted things to go.  I need to work on my plot line a little better and some of the rules of play more.  Time is running out.  I feel like I am cramming for the final exam for a class I have been sitting in the back row talking in all semester.  I've heard some of the details but can't really put them all together.

Went out walking a few times today and I spent a short time at the storage unit too.  Some of the buds on trees are starting to open, soon there will be leaves.  I was still a bit achy from my Tuesday hiking adventure today but walking helped that some and I remembered to do a little bit of stretching.  

My happy for today is watching Gideon and his excitement over Dungeons and Dragons.  My hope is that I can foster this in a good and productive way.

This tree is starting to look heavy with cones.

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Homework

Gideon has a tremendous imagination.  He also watches gaming tutorials enough that he knows a bunch more about Minecraft than I do.  His play isn't very organized though.  Today I spent part of my day recovering from yesterday's hike and general overdoing it and chores and the rest trying to learn more about Dungeons and Dragons.  I did some reading, I made some character sheets, I watched videos on Youtube (like this one).  During dinner we began our campaign with me being the Dungeon Master (DM).  The DM is the narrator of the story and should be able to keep the game moving.  Gideon, K and Z all had very different characters to play in the game.  This is where Gideon's imagination tried to assert itself and push some boundaries.  Someday, he will make a very good DM.  We would enter the scene and I would describe something about it and he would add what he saw there.  Well, no, he couldn't have seen that because that would be job of the DM to let him know what is seen, he needed to decide what to do with that information.  He took to the game very well and was not happy when we decided to end for the night and went off to bed trying to figure out what might happen next and why can't he go back to town and give the guy that gave them the job a piece of his mind.

There is a huge amount for me to learn still.  In the beginning one of the characters is a dwarf and wanted to learn more about the castle and use their skill with stone to find out.  I totally didn't anticipate something like that so made it up.  This is definitely going to help me learn to think on my feet a bit more.  I am trying to make this up as I go as much as I can because I know how quickly it can change by what the characters choose in any given circumstance.  Flexibility is important.  By Monday I have to have a bunch of this down in my mind or at my fingertips so that game play can move along.  We will only have about 45 minutes each Monday for the after school group.  Hopefully it will all come together well and the kids will have fun. 

Today my happy is the learning and playing of Dungeons and Dragons.  Tomorrow I need to get a bunch of what I learned typed up to share with the teacher so we will be able to work on this together.  I am also very thankful for my daughter, K, going out today and picking up some information on the game for me and all the family for playing along as I stumble through becoming a DM. 

🏰☮🐉

Mount Major

Spring is finally here, but there is still snow in the mountains.  For about the last month and half, maybe two months my left foot has been making me very aware of its presence in an unhappy sort of way.  Today I climbed Mount Major anyway.  I only slipped and fell once and that was not because of my foot.  Climbing up the trail didn't seem too slippery even where there was snow/ice/mud.  I spent some time resting and wandering around the top and by the time I headed back down things had melted a little more and were a bit more slippery.  I seem to just have very minor scrape on my arm from the fall.  Tomorrow bruises may turn up, but for now everything seems good. 

This evening a friend and I went to a craft night that I hadn't been to before.  I brought the smocking I have been working on but I have reached a point where I need to read what the next step is and couldn't concentrate on that so I tried to socialize instead.  It was a good group of people, some that I had met before and others that I had not.  I need to get better at introducing myself.  It was a nice evening.  Next time I hope to not be so tired.  😴

Going up.

At the top. 

Peak Lens

Going down. 

🌄☮🌄

Storage

After some confusion this morning as to whether or not I was needed to watch Gideon, he and I set off for the storage unit.  Three plus hours later he was bored on his iPad and I was no longer in a good place to be there.  There is a certain frame of mind that I need to be in to be productive with going through all the stuff.  I could have pressed myself more today, but I know that it would not have been fair for Gideon to stay there longer.  He played by himself for a while and we put together a small puzzle that can now go to charity.  When I started going through a box that was sure to bring tears to my eyes I knew it was time to pack up and leave.  He seemed to like my flowchart though.  😎

Later we went for a walk on one of the many rail trails around the state.  The exercise, warm air and faint smell of pine was refreshing and is my happy for today.

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Earth Day-just a happy

Some of the things on my to-do list were done, all but one was started.  The only one that I didn't do was to call someone and it is too late for that now, but it totally slipped my mind.  Cleaning, laundry and organizing are things I did.  Sleeping in is my happy for today.

Gideon at breakfast-The Little Creperie.

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Discover WILD NH

There was a fairly local event today called Discover WILD NH.  Gideon and I went, a little later than I had hoped because he decided he wanted eggs in a basket for breakfast.  I had never made eggs in a basket before so first there were Youtube how-to videos, then came the eggs in a basket.  I think I did pretty well for the first time.  I am thinking about ways to change it up a little next time, we'll see.  

By the time we got to Discover WILD NH the parking options were limited.  It was about a 12 minute walk from the car to the entrance.  The first thing Gideon wanted to see was the Cub Scout booth.  After that we found the live animal exhibit where there was a red-tailed hawk and a barn owl that we got to see and learn about.  People were packed into the room.  When that ended we made the mistake of wandering a little aimlessly around.  Gideon wanted to go to see Puppy Love, which I thought had to do with the Labradors that were supposed to be there.  He was a little upset with me that I didn't know that Puppy Love was a hot dog stand.  I couldn't imagine how he could be hungry after the breakfast we had, but we ended up standing in the very long line so he could have a hot dog.  We made a plan for what to do once the task of eating was complete.  

First, we looked for a pond that we thought would have some kind of booth but didn't.  It was a yard pond that was in need of spring cleaning.  We then found the Labradors.  We got there in between shows so just got to pet them for a few minutes and moved on to our next goal, the casting area. Gideon got to learn how to cast a fishing rod.  He had a hard time paying attention to where the rod was, accidentally bumping the rod into one of the instructors once.  I think he will figure that out with practice.  He practiced a few times and caught one of the 'fish.'

After that we looked for what we thought was a booth about bugs.  Gideon recently was gifted some bug collecting toys and was hoping to learn more about them.  This booth was selling protective clothing though instead of being a place to learn.  We had a good time, despite being a little disappointed over what we thought some of the things would be.  Next year maybe we will get there earlier and plan better.  😎

At home we played Catan Junior.  Somehow a bag of the game pieces is missing from the box.  We looked all over, but they were not to be found.  We were able to substitute some other items and play still.  Gideon won.

Getting out in the fresh air with Gideon and playing games are my happy things for today.  

Barn owl

Selfies

This fella floated over the area where the stuffed birds were.

Learning to cast.  🎣

Fish for dinner!  😀

Catan Junior.  The gold is missing. 

🐟 🦌 🐕 🐛

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🙏 Prayer request for Gideon's grandfather that he calls Totoro, after the movie character.  His gallbladder broke today and he is being operated on as I write this.

School Pride Day

The day didn't go the way I expected it to.  Things that shouldn't go out into the world wide web happened that were meant to be good, but created some personal stress for me.  Since walking helps me deal with stress a friend and I walked at lunch for about 10 minutes.  Then this evening I walked to craft night which, round trip, was about 2.4 miles.  Craft night was just the host and myself which should have meant lots of productivity but was lots of great conversation instead.  This makes it my happy for today.  I am also very grateful for the understanding and support I got today while I was stressed.  Surround yourself with good people.  💜

From my walk.

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Pirate Day

Prior to work, with the prop I can't (nor would I want to as a prop) bring to school Z had me pose for some pictures.

The sword stayed at home where it belonged and I decided against the hat.  Not as many students participated as pirates as did with the other themes this week.  It surprises me a little, but I think pirate was harder for them to do.  Getting to dress different for spirit week is my happy for today.  One more day and then vacation.  😌

☠   ☮    ☠

Western Day

Western Day for spirit week was not noteworthy costume-wise for my part; jeans, a red top with a jean sort of western style shirt, a bandanna and hat.  The bandanna around my neck is really the only out-of-place part of that outfit for me.  Well, except I wouldn't normally wear those things to school.  There were a fair amount of hats worn today that looked close to new.  My thought is not that they just bought them, but that they are seldom worn.  

After spending the last 2 hours looking for a shirt to wear for Pirate Day tomorrow I finally found one.  I even went to the storage unit and looked in the few boxes closest to the door.  The one thing I can't seem to locate is a hat.  We should have at least 2 felt hats that I could easily add a feather to that I haven't found.  I did some research on female pirates but don't seem to have any garb close enough to be very historically accurate.  Here is a link to one of the pirates, Jeanne de Clisson, whose story I enjoyed.  

It was my last travel writing class tonight.  The class has taught me a few things but I think the one that is sticking to me first is that taking the time to edit is important.  And not just reading over for obvious mistakes like I try to when blogging, but looking for ways to word things differently, so the words flow better.  I do that when I blog, but only in the briefest of ways.  My happy for today is that I have finished the class and that I am happy I took it.   I look forward to having Wednesday's back.

Just a pretty sky and pond I drove by today.

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Fashion Disaster

Kids seemed to like the Lego earrings I wore today.  I have worn a red pair of square 4 block Legos to school a few times.  K made them for me a few years ago.  For Fashion Disaster Day I attached some other Legos to them to add to their crazy.  All the different combinations of clothes, hats and hair color is my happy for today.  

This is me being goofy at home after school.

Yes, I wore the Camelbak fanny pack all day.

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Rainy Days and Mondays

Spirit Week at school means I get to wear things I might not normally wear.  Today was just class colors so I wore red.  Tomorrow is fashion disaster and crazy hair day.  I found a combination that is a clashing.  Then is Western Wednesday and I don't have much for that.  Thursday is pirate day, I am looking forward to that day, but I can't find some of my garb that I think will kind of work.  Friday is school pride day so it will just be a school tee-shirt & jeans. 

Last night I fell asleep with Dungeon and Dragons Youtube videos playing.  Just after 4 AM I woke up thinking that something was really wrong with the sound coming out of the computer.  After muting it I realized that the sound was coming from outside my window.  The scraping of windshields and the cursing that went along with it lasted most of the morning.  First one car, then another, and another.  It was apparently quite the job.  My car was in a parking garage so I just had to walk in the freezing rain to get to it, but there was no ice to scrape.  Had this storm brought just snow, there would be over a foot out there to shovel.  Rainy day song for today.

Most of the plants at school are doing well.  There are buds on some and we are hoping to be able to cross pollinate them on Wednesday or Thursday.

Setting my head back and thinking about what my happy for today could be I notice a spot on the ceiling that I don't remember seeing before.  Like someone didn't do a second coating of paint in one spot.  The roof seems to be leaking!  Not dripping yet, but...  There is now a bucket on my bed that will hopefully catch anything should the rain continue to fall.  And perhaps this song is more fitting, since it is Monday.

Now, back to a happy thing for today... Watching Vin Diesel play D&D this morning.  It was fun and gave me some ideas about how to play the game.  I'm also happy that I looked up and noticed the wet ceiling in time to put a bucket under it. 

💧☮💧