update

I can now post pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know that posting pictures is supposed to be normal and not a big deal, but it's just a big deal for me, right now. So excuse me while I put a ton of pictures into every post I've ever done. (not really, but almost.:)

I am so happy!!! :)

PS That's a picture I took of some trees that I loved at a baseball field we went to. :) They reminded me of the trees in the yard at my parents house.

kings and queens and acorns

Fall is my favorite season ever. Autumn, actually. That is a prettier word to use. I love it because of the coolness, pumpkins and acorns, and I love it when leaves fly at my windshield while I am driving. Driving in some nice cloudy weather, and suddenly you are going through a tunnel of blowing, flying leaves. Swirly, mingle-y leaves...

I was thrilled the first time that happened to me. I never realized it was possible until I lived in Dallas. In Rockport, most of the trees are the kingly live oaks which, while they have the best trunks ever, for climbing, or drawing, or for staring at and imagining spooky or medieval fairytale things, they do not have the best leaves. Their leaves are so small and heavy that they fall almost without floating at all! And they don't fall in Autumn, they fall in April, when the new leaves have already grown in.

Anyway, yesterday I found an acorn. Still nice and green, like the ones Kristin and I used to gather at home from the live oaks. I picked it up and took it with me in my purse. I love acorns very much. Isn't it amazing how God thought to make acorns the way they are, seeds that are big enough to find on the ground and admire, or play with, or fill a bucket with or have fights with! (How was that for a lot of prepositions?) And the best thing about acorns is their name.

Acorn has always been one of my top favorite words for as long as I can remember. I realize that some people do not think about favorite words that much, so it might be strange that I do. But it is really fun, and the words you like can make you so happy! I am disappointed that "acorn" reminds me of voter fraud at present, but Steve says that will pass in a few weeks. Oh whatever! Go look it up, if you want. I am listening to a book on the lives of the kings and queens of England and I am peacefully reminded that politics has always been this way and am happy that our God has the real power, aren't you? I don't know what acorns were called in the garden of Eden, or what they are called in any other languages, but in this rare case I am entirely satisfied with only knowing the english. Acorn, acorn, acorn! We might have an acorn-shaped cookie cutter...

I know I have not posted in forever. I have had a very busy October, but I am learning not to be such a mama bear about my time, and that is very freeing! I am off to a babyshower tour of Texas this weekend, but after that, I think I will not too busy for a few weeks.

the treehouse tree

It seems like I am having a lot of time to post things this week. Well, it is my last week off before starting up teaching again. (even though I never really stopped...grrr!!! Better luck next year.)

It's Saturday and my brother, Stephen H. (not to be confused with Steve H, my husband) is in town, but strangely, I am all alone at home this afternoon. Steve had to go in to work for a few hours and Stephen is also working today. He is out buying books for his online book business. In fact, he just called a minute ago to ask if I wanted another copy of How the Irish Saved Civilization. Yes! So Aubrey, you can keep the one I left at your house. :)

I made the ice cream pie for my birthday party tomorrow, but in a minute I need to go make the hot fudge. Stephen gave me one of the best birthday presents ever! It is a ballpoint pen drawing of the gnarled old oak where our treehouse used to be when we were little.



This morning we went and picked out a matting and frame for it. I love it so much! Stephen is a very talented artist. I will post a picture of it, whenever I learn how to do that sort of thing.

Gone With the Wind

"There was a land of Cavaliers and Cotton Fields called the Old South. Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow. Here was the last ever to be seen of Knights and their Ladies Fair, of Master and of Slave. Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered, a Civilization gone with the wind..."



I am watching Gone With the Wind this evening, having been inspired to watch something by a huge pile of clean laundry that I have avoided folding for three days! I am watching it on the old vhs tape set that Susanna and Kathleen got me for Christmas a long time ago. I love remembering that. It's a lovely set, in a case with a big picture on the cover, you know, the Gone With the Wind picture. I like it. And it has a paper inside with some trivia about the book and the film. Did you know Margaret Mitchell tried a few different names for Scarlett including Pansy, Angel, Robin and Storm. I don't think the book would be the same at all if her name were something else!

I have not seen the movie in forever, and it has gotten me thinking and wanting to read the book again. I think I'll start it tonight. Steve and I are having so many peaceful, non-busy evenings these days. I think we have had more peaceful evenings this August than in our whole first year of marriage! (that wasn't his fault, believe me!)

Anyway, I have to say this: my very favorite thing about watching Gone With the Wind is all the shots with the trees silhouetted against the sky. That is my favorite time of day, when the trees are dark and the sky is still pale.


Trees in general are some of the most touching things in the world, I think. I better go. I could go on about trees forever, and the Kince is lying around on all the clean clothes.