Christmastimes

We had a WHITE Christmas this year 

at our house!

We also had 2 dogs & 4 cats,

 many laughs, 

great gift-giving,

lots of food,

and much love for each other.

Our 3rd annual cookie decorating contest results:

1st place:  Annie (Elf) by one vote 

2nd place:  Kerry (egg)

3rd place:  Adam (grill)

Life After College

I haven't posted in a while, and wasn't planning to start again until the New Year.  

But plans change when there's a very good reason!

2017 has been a year of change for my daughter, Annie.  College graduation in May, job interviews, accepting a job offer in July, move to a new apartment in August, adopting 2 kittens, and beginning her first teaching position in mid-August...all happening in four months.

Annie found a large, beautiful, bright, cheery apartment in a small town in Massachusettes only 40 minutes from home and 15 minutes from her new job!

It is the 3rd floor of an old house which was just totally renovated.

It has 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, a spacious kitchen, dining room, and living room.

The kittens, Wells Fargo and Charles Schwab came home a few weeks later.

Then she entered the "working world".

 Since September,  there have been ups and downs as Annie has been finding her way through the struggles of first-year teaching.  Over time, we've noticed less focus on her difficulties and more talk about "her kids" and the funny things they say, notes they've written to her, and appreciative emails from parents.

Annie's time is split between the elementary school and the middle school. 

She teaches general music to 3rd and 4th graders, 

and

is the band instructor to 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.

Last week she put on a wonderful holiday concert with her elementary students.

She was extremely nervous beforehand, but you'd never know it once the show began.

Watching her interact with the kids, we couldn't help but wonder where

the years have gone.  Wasn't it just yesterday that she was one of the

 little ones on the stage? 

  

As a parent, it was wonderful to watch the kids looking up to Annie

 and to see her face light up in response.

Not very many years ago,  Annie would scramble up to her music teacher, Mrs. Bigge, 

after every concert so I could take their picture together.

Now she is the "Mrs. Bigge" for these kids.

Last night,  we were honored to attend Annie's first Middle School Band Concert.

Here, she directed the very cool Jazz Band.

Then the full band did extremely well too!

It was nice for us to be able to meet the school principal and a few of

Annie's colleagues that we hear so much about.

We were very proud of Annie.  

She looked confident and professional,

but the best part was, again, seeing how she

was connected to the kids and how they responded to her.

We would have traveled far to attend these concerts,

but we feel fortunate to be less than an hour away!

Congratulations, Annie!

A Mighty Oak Falls

I woke up this morning in anticipation to discover

who had been indicted by the Grand Jury

in the Trump investigation.

In complex investigations such as this, often the first to be charged are

those at the bottom.  It is common that prosecutors use information from lower level people to help the investigation as it works its way higher up the ladder.

Early this morning, as the rain came down and the wind whirled through the trees,  a mighty oak toppled to the ground in our front yard.

It fell away from our house, across our neighbor's driveway, and across the road.

Unfortunately, it also crushed our neighbor's car.

BUT their mailbox and newspaper boxes remained untouched.

There's nothing like a disaster to draw the neighbors out of their houses

before 7 o'clock in the morning!

Within 1/2 hour,  the town was here to clear the branches from the road to allow cars to pass.

And within a few hours,  the Distinctive Tree Care was here to remove the rest 

of the tree.

The car was uncovered.

The crime scene was taped off so as not to endanger any Trick-or-Treaters tomorrow night.

As I looked more closely at the root ball,  I noticed how small the roots of this enormous tree actually were.  I asked the arborist about the root system.  After all this tree had weathered over its many, many years, what made it topple now?

He explained that, unlike what many believe,  the roots of large oaks are not huge and mainly extend only 18 inches into the ground.  The many small roots extend way beyond the canopy of the tree and make up the entire support system for the tree.

Over time, and for many reasons, these many small tentacles of roots can weaken or be broken.  When this happens, and the support system of the mighty tree is no longer as strong as it once was,  it can be uprooted if the conditions are right.

There is no law of nature that the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top.

As the Meuller investigation chips away at those small roots in Donald Trump's world,

what will be discovered?  

Will it be enough, 

and will conditions be right

 to bring him down?