I must admit it, summer is winding down.  We had our early workshop days this week, 2 of 3 are completed.  Today we were in Morris all day checking off the OSHA blood born pathogens and other required items.  The main speaker was terrific, we have about 15 schools who share the expense and fill up the Morris auditorium.  The speaker was Steve Gilleland, and his topic was "Making a Difference." He speaks about leadership and usually speaks to cooperate groups.  We were so lucky to have him, he kept us laughing most of the time too.  On an interesting note, his stepson will be the new German teacher in Jackson, Mn this year.  Has anyone else had the opportunity to hear him speak? I would love to hear him again.  We always get the best speakers at our fall workshops!!
Tomorrow, we start at 11 and have open house from 4-7.  On Friday, we are off to fish on Superior with Royce and family-can't wait!!

Some good summer photo's

 It's that wonderful time when the basil is full grown and home grown tomatoes are fresh off the vine, add a little mozzarella, olive oil, salt and pepper and perfection!

 The fireworks on the 4th were even better than ever, which is hard to believe as they're always amazing.  This year I was even able to take some decent pictures!  Here's my best shot, right in front of the cabin.

 One of my favorite sunset pictures of 2012.

I love hanging out sheets, almost as good as sleeping in them.

Big Kitty doing what cats do best.

Classic summer kid with a bug in a jar.  This photo  captures her spirit.

Demise of the Hummingbird

I wondered why this big frog was hanging out in my petunia pot.  I took this photo in July.

Here's the pot on Aug. 19, he's in there, can you see his spots?

The cats actually drew my attention to this and I thought I was going to rescue the frog from them.  This explains why he's there and also doubled his size since July.  I moved him down to the lilacs and moved this planter to a safe spot on a table.  I had no idea frogs would eat hummingbirds!  Nature is cruel.

Good news for Mollie!

Mollie went to the vet today and is down to 11 pounds and in her desired weight range. Her sugar level was actually too low so she will now have just one insulin shot per day instead of two.  That will make life a bit simpler for all.   (This is an older photo so she still looks big here.)

Big Kitty on the other hand is up to up to 16 pounds and will need to go on a diet.  She won't be happy about that.  

Fun finds & Flowers

Kris found this darling Fire-King grease pot for Shari at the Hoffman rummage sales.  Mom and I shopped together there all morning and we both found some fun things.  For 20 cents I found another Russ Barrie statue for Shari's collection.  I also found some great classroom movies that go with some of my novel units-hopefully will have time to watch them.  I bought a Ouiji board for just a quarter, you never see those anymore and I wonder if they might be collectible? It was the last Downton Abby episode that made me snap that up.  Are you watching Downton Abby on PBS yet?  If not, you need to.  Mom got some good things too, a Dept 56 Firehouse for her Christmas collection, just a dollar and a box full of village accessories for 50 cents.  She was also very pleased to find an old collector plate from the Hoffman milkman who used to pick up our milk and deliver butter.  Do you remember Ingemar?  There was more but those are the highlights.

 These salmon colored geraniums on the top photo came from Jackson over a year ago.  They didn't do much for either Ann or me last summer but I kept mine alive over the winter and this summer they have been doing very well.  I love the flower and foliage.

 These old fashioned flowers are happy in a tub I rescued from the grainery on the farm.

I love hanging planters even though they need to be watered more often.  The hummingbirds are going crazy at our house right now.  Two almost shot right into me as they raced each other around the corner of the house.  They're so territorial so I try to keep the feeders spread out.

Back in the classroom

We had the 5th grade orientation this morning.  Things went well but I was a little disappointed with schedule changes and changes to my class list, things that I can't control.  I'm sure there will be more, oh well, be flexible or break they say.   I've had quite a few iPad meetings and a staffing that have forced me to go back to school early so I decided since I was there I may as well start setting up the room a wall at a time.  I am really enjoying putting the room back together.  These pictures are from Monday and today after orientation, a couple other walls are looking ready to go to.

This thrift store lampshade was a find this summer and worked nicely with a base I've had for a few months.  Laurel gave me some vintage classroom goodies last year and the schoolgirl figurine seems to be happy in this spot.  

Elbow Lake Courthouse

We went to the courthouse last week to renew our passports, yikes has that gone up in price! Ours were ready to expire since first getting them to go to Ireland ten years ago.  We did use them last winter for Cancun so we only used them twice.  We'll have to try harder in the next decade.    Anyway, I used my new iphone to take these pictures in the courthouse. I love how the window frames the downtown area.  The courthouse has recently gone through a facelift and is in beautiful condition.  Everyone knows the exterior is beautiful but so is the inside.