icons

Like the rest of my generation, I am mourning the loss of two icons of my childhood: Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

an evening in the life

Tonight after dinner, when it had cooled off to only 90 (!) degrees, we all went outside. The children ran around, helped me pick some more green beans, and I got a ton of weeding done - in the veggie garden as well as the flower garden. Both gardens look lots better. I haven't weeded in over a month, and I wound up taking two huge armfuls of weeds down to the woods. We came inside when it threatened to rain as we needed to start bedtime anyway. After K went to sleep, I realized it hadn't rained, so I went outside to water all the gardens. I was able to untangle the hose and drag it the 25 feet or so to the vegetable garden without any trouble at all; it didn't even hurt my midsection. I also lifted and carried an aluminum bucket half full of water over to the flower bed without any pain or pulling at all. So I felt not only productive but also like I'm over this surgery mess.

While I was watering I noticed a strange smell. It was pleasant enough, but it also sort of smelled like pizza. I couldn't figure out why or how I could be smelling someone's delivered pizza or where it was coming from. And then I realized: I am growing oregano in my herb garden!! That's what I smelled!

scheduling

So The Little Gym changed the time of the class K is in. "No, I'm sorry, ma'am, it's at 3:30 on Tuesdays." Even after I showed her HER OWN brochure where it said 4:30. Seriously, they couldn't give me a call to let me know they changed the time from their published brochure?!

We have now missed TWO weeks of gymnastics since we couldn't manage to get there the day before school got out last week. They are letting her do a make-up on Saturday, and fortunately I don't have anything else scheduled on Tuesdays this summer, so moving back an hour to 3:30 isn't a huge deal. but still. I was irritated.

Summertime

I love the summer; I just wish the heat index didn't already feel like the third week of July.

dying

Yet another mother of small children in my life is dying. She's not even 40. Her 3 children range in age from 3 to about 10. She's been at a Hospice care facility for over 90 days and is still alive, but we all know it will be soon. She's a minister of children's education at a church where her husband is the pastor. These are colleagues of mine. It breaks my heart.

Khmer Rouge in the news

Warning: this is seriously disturbing/sensitive!

This bothers me sooooo much:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090608/ap_on_re_as/as_cambodia_genocide_trial

I've been there. I've lived there. I worked there. I've been through Tuol Sleng and visited Choeng Ek and seen unmarked mass graves. I've talked to the survivors and lived among the people whose families were brutally murdered or starved to death. Every person I worked with, lived among, met, talked to -- they were all the only survivors of the genocide in their family. This article, this trial, is so painful for Cambodia, for the Khmer people, and for those of us who love them.

5th World Conference on Women

I am supporting this effort:

http://5wcw.org/