The Hannah Family

Mom is alert today and said hi after I did

Reached remote parking tonight with no time to spare!

First day of classes

I have 5 courses for fall semester so it’s going to be super busy (full time is 3 classes/9 hours but one of my courses counts as 1 hour so I am carrying 13 hours). Currently turning down even direct-request sub jobs because there’s no choice. I’m not permitted to sub during my spring student teaching experience, but fall semester there simply isn’t time to do everything. Meanwhile, I am constantly  tasked with required school jobs that take 5 to 15+ hours each, but are in addition to the scheduled workload that “I volunteered to suffer through.” It’s true. Clear the decks. Mama has research to do, exams to register for and a dozen textbooks to read (while post menopausal with difficulty sleeping). Pop some corn and pull up a chair, there’s likely going to be a show this year despite my good intentions...

Moving right along

After 3 months of grad school, I finally got to attend orientation (they only do it in the fall). It was 2 days long and ridiculously repetitive, but it is nice to get some answers.

Volunteers were singing and playing the piano this morning

As usual, Mom was completely still but her feet were moving with the music.

My happy place

Checked on Mom and Moose

She is blinking, but otherwise motionless.

Father-daughter hike

Mount Monadnock conquered

Tea party!

We took a side trip from Scott and Dianne’s (my Godmom) lake house in New Hampshire to Massachusetts today. We ate a delicious lunch (with crab cakes) on the water, walked around admiring everything, and visited the Boston Museum of Science. I also steered the fam to a 1.5 hour historical walking tour by the harbor, but was pulled out of the ticket line because Pearly Pond was apparently calling us back “home.” It was fine. We had a great day.

I was surprised Boston is so large (I’ve lived in South and then North Carolina for decades for perspective). We know our brother-in-law Steve and my Grandpa Frank (Pat’s dad) are from Boston so of course it’s super cool! I particularly enjoyed the combination of new and old architecture downtown and on our 1.5 hour drive. My humanities teacher at USF in Tampa showed us more than I could remember about the subject even then, but what stuck is the appreciation. 

 

Hullabaloo

I looked at the lake and noticed Claire perched on the dock so I went out to capture a photo. Apparently, Mark saw something fly in as I was leaving...

 I return to the living room and after a couple minutes felt the “you are not alone” vibe. I stood up and walked out of the room, glancing back to spot a black thing on the ceiling.

”Mark, there’s something in the living room!”

”It’s a moth.”

”No Mark, it’s furry.”

He said, “get out of the house” and I did. 

“Hey Claire, come up here! There’s a bat in the living room.”

”Really?!”

My little girl went into catch and release mode, chasing the bat for 10 solid minutes until it flew back outside. I dubbed her a hero and she said it was one of the highlights of this vacation.