Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Dear Mom, ‘tis not that time of moon with me.

Week of November 4 - 10

(Fluffy and I have been watching/reading simultaneously Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and I love that line of Olivia’s in Act I. It has nothing to do with the post, really, I just like it. :)

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The moon looked almost exactly like this through the binoculars that night.

You will note in this post the beautiful photos of night-sky wonders. They are because of a fun date DC and I had – there was a free telescope event at that natural area by the temple site that I took you to. Some volunteers with shmancy telescopes were there and they let us take turns peeking into the eyepieces and they explained to us what we were seeing. It was amazing! And it brought back memories of Bro. Lewis teaching us about the Tucson night sky back in the day. I’ll include more of what we saw farther on down. . . .

Rosebud is in a new and wonderful phase. She is often hilarious and occasionally aggravating, as I’m sure anyone who has had an almost four-year-old can relate to. Mostly she is sweet, though, and I love being with her. Her fashion sense is becoming more developed, which means she will soon pass me up. :o)

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Who will help me grind the wheat? (I am loving my little I–will!)

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Fluffy had a band concert, his first one here in Colorado. The ‘bone section sounded awesome!

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I love that he can still participate in this while he is homeschooling. He really enjoys it and it probably is good for him to be with people outside the family regularly, eh?

 

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One of my favorite parts of the week was when Rosebud figured out she could draw smiley faces all by herself. They are so dang CUTE!! And the first ones she ever drew in her whole entire life were for you! (I was madly jealous).

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Their hair is so awesome, isn’t it? And when she drew some for me with only one eye per face she informed me that they were cyclopses. Gah! So adorable!

But first she had to make sure this one got mailed to you. I got the envelope ready for her, and then. . . .

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She put it in her “tricycle trunk” and drove it up to the corner where our mailbox is.

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Hummer tried to escape this picture, but he was no match for me. heh heh heh.

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And off it went. :) Since then she has made one for Grandpa and two more for you, but I think I’ll collect them for a while so I don’t run out of stamps!

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It has been a tough semester for both DC and Exacto. The news this week is that the OT program here was just named the #1 in the country based on alumni recommendation! Great news for future prospects, hopefully, but the ranking is not without reason. It really is grueling to stuff that much good content into 27 months of study, especially for someone who is changing fields so completely. He is pulling lots of late nights and early mornings and all-day Saturdays. Exacto’s right there with him. The high school here seems to believe that we really don’t need/want to see him more than 10 seconds a week! grrr. Here’s to hoping that next semester is at least a little better for both of them.

Here’s Exacto with his new study companion. (Rosebud let him babsit. :)

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Gratuitous photo designed to make you (and all my siblings) suddenly wish fervently to move here!

Rosebud wore the dress you bought her on Sunday. We took these (actually Fluffy did) just for you. . .

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And to end, here’s more of what we saw Friday night. It was soooo cool!! I want to go again!

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The Ring Nebula, very much how it looked to us through the telescope.

 

The Pleiades star cluster

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One of my favorites to find without a telescope, the Pleiades. They looked so beautiful closer up like this!

 

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Andromeda. Apparently one of the only (or THE only?) galaxies visible to the naked eye outside of our Milky Way.

Thank you for all the wonderful things you do for us, Mom. I am so grateful for you and Dad and DC’s parents and all of our supportive family. Our burdens are so much lighter because of you.

Love,

Michelle

3 comments:

Vauna said...[Reply to comment]

That reminds me of when Ethan was in kindergarten they had an astronomy night at the school where they served hot dogs and cookies and had several fancy telescopes set up that we got to look through! It was amazing. I wish they would do that again!
I loved seeing your little wheat grinder! And I loved Exacto babysitting. Hummer and his word toys are so fun. And I loved what you did with the band photo so we could clearly see your trombonist. Miss you!

llamitanan said...[Reply to comment]

Loved reading and seeing the sequence of Rosebud sending the picture she drew. It was such a pleasant surprise for it to arrive in the mail. I don't receive very much fun snail mail any more. I love being thought of. Sure enjoy your posts!!!

heroineworshipper said...[Reply to comment]

Violinist must be taking an overload schedule to minimize the cost.