The Roosevelt

 

This is an iPhone photo of the Presidential Suite at The Roosevelt in New Orleans where The Good Doctor and I got to stay for our anniversary weekend in June. Insane! This is the view from the door of the bedroom, which was huge, and you can't see it but on the left just past that bench is the foyer (with powder room and a table for a flower arrangement) and past that is the doorway that goes to the wet bar (filled with goodies for us). It was a fun, fun weekend. Next time, we're going to have a party here and invite Harry Connick, Jr. to come play the piano for us.

Sated on Saturday

I know I should give up on the alliterative post titles, but I can't do it yet. It has been a long time since you've heard from me..."you" being me, actually, or one of my ones of followers.

And just a note on my promise to keep you updated on the progress of the fort: I haven't broken it. There hasn't been any progress.

We have been really busy since school started on August 10 for The May Baby and the 11th for the boys. (One month ago!) Seventh grade homework is no joke. Also, lots of football games and horseback riding lessons, meetings for The Good Doctor, and pulpit committee meetings for me. And a whole lot of frantic errands to replace contacts (no glasses under helmets) and get football pads, mouth guards, chin straps, practice pants...

I enjoy watching the boys play, though, and they both seem to be liking it. Both boys sustained their first losses this week, however. The February Baby, whose team was undefeated last year, did not take that very well; he'd been blocking a monster from Poplarville (I think the kid's own child was cheering him from the sidelines). The September Baby was beaming when he came out of the locker room after his game...at least the Jackson Prep offense hadn't gotten around his end, during his six plays.

Anyway, losses have to happen, and it's said that they help build character.

So, I am going to go ahead and continue my thankful list with number 106. Losses
107. Football
108. Coaches
109. Safety, so far, from injuries...physical ones, at least.

And I'm feeling in a bookish mood tonight, so

110. Lord Peter Wimsey and Dorothy L. Sayers
111. C.S. Lewis
112. Jane Austen
113. P.G. Woodhouse and Bertie Wooster
114. Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes
115. Harry Potter
116. Ngaio Marsh
117. My bookclub

Under construction

On what may be the hottest day of the year so far, The Three have decided to build a fort. (I think it may end up looking more like a homeless person's shanty.) We spent the morning deciding where it should go...they wanted to do it in the field across the street, near the creek, but I feared that the Providence Architectural Compliance Committee might not approve of its visibility from the street. So we decided on the back yard, utilizing our old swing set that my parents gave the boys for Christmas 2000. I remember swinging the boys on it the morning of May 5, 2001, killing time until it was time to go to the hospital to have Ella. If I were sentimental, I might make some reference here to The Giving Tree. But since I do not fall victim to those types of nostalgic, emotional references, I won't. (No, no. I'm fine...I just have something in my eye.)

When we talked to the Good Doctor at lunch time, he suggested sites in the yard that would lower the eyesore factor. But here it is; smack-dab in the middle of the back yard, visible from every angle.

Enjoy the slanted view here.

 They worked hard all afternoon. You can see the blood (September Baby's thumb), 

and the sweat (February Baby's face),

And this...this is just before the tears.

 I'll keep you posted on the progress.

The Reading Hour

Twenty minutes into our "reading hour" today...

Cokes consumed: 3

Nutella toasts made: 4

Arguments begun: 6

Belches heard: 3

Books lost: 4

Accusations flung: 2

Bags of popcorn popped and eaten: 1

Pets played with: 2

Words read: ZERO.

 Painting by Julian Merrow Smith, www.shiftinglight.com

The Trifecta

Around our house during football season, The Trifecta is when Ole Miss wins and State and Southern lose. But here...here is the true trifecta of my dreams.

All three of my children reading. That's good...that's very good. (And tragically rare.)

But, even better, they're reading in Oxford. Which is, well, no matter how you feel about Ole Miss...Oxford is a great place. I'm not saying it's actually Heaven, but I have heard it called "heavenly."

And then, to make it perfect...they are reading at Square Books Jr.

We went to Oxford while we were in Thaxton visiting Goober the day after Father's Day. He may be having aneurysm repair surgery soon and we wanted to get to see him before all of that. Since I was late mailing his gift, we got to be there when it arrived. Old Guys Rule, with a quote from John Wayne on the back, "You never see a cowboy on a psychiatrist's couch." It was a very fast, but good trip.

If I put a picture on my blog, maybe I won't have to buy them for myself...

How cute are these? I've never seen anything like this in my life, but suddenly I really don't know how I've lived without them until now. Cupcake stands from Olive & Cocoa, my newest favorite catalog full of all kinds of stuff.

Mulling over Multitude Monday

Well, I said that I was no longer going to comment on how quickly Mondays come around or on the fact that I am so late posting, so I won't. (See how I did that...mentioning it by saying I wasn't going to mention it? There must be a literary term for that.) I will count this, however...Number 82. I do not blog for a living.

This past month has been full of excitement. School is out (Number 83). We went to Dollywood. We came home from Dollywood (Number 84). We got a new kitten, Lucy, who is such a joy (Number 85). We went to a couple of soccer tournaments. Soccer ended for us (Number 86). The boys went to Twin Lakes (87). We had Ella's birthday/slumber/swimming party at Mom L's. We went to Flora to celebrate Mama's birthday (88). Kiper and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary (89) and got to go to New Orleans for the weekend (90), because Haley and Will (91 and 92) came to keep the children (94, 95, 96) for us. We got upgraded (97) to the Teddy Roosevelt Suite at The Roosevelt, which was Amazing. A piano in our suite! All we needed was to have a party and invite Harry Connick, Jr. to play it for us. Kiper is determined to learn to play so we can go back next year.

I want to make it to One Hundred this week so I'm going to also mention, specifically...

98. Clancy's Restaurant
99. New Orleans French Bread
100. Beignets (Yay! One-tenth of the way to A Thousand Thanks!)
101. Jazz music
102. Doctors
103. The ability to go see Goober last week on the spur of the moment.
104. An important negotiation that has worked out for Kiper's business.
105. Getting to spend time with Heather and the Starnses today.

My camera has been lost for a couple of weeks. It needs to turn up before we go to the beach on Saturday. I wish I had some photos to liven up this post.