MISS LAGRANGE PAGEANT

One of the highlights in the summer in all the counties in Indiana is the county fair. Since the State Fair is the middle of August many counties are now starting or finishing their fairs. There are judgings of beef, pigs and sheep. There are displays of cakes, pies and cookies. There also are Queen Pageants to become the 4-H girl to reign over the fair and next month compete at state.

On Friday night The Big D and I traveled to LaGrange county to judge their pageant. The first leg of the contest was the interview. We questioned each girl for 5 minutes. There are nine of them--all in their teens (16-18). It was fun to find out about each one. They were all big advocates for 4-H. They were all nice All American girls. Tonight is the official pageant with business wear and formal wear. It will be held at the fair grounds among cows, tractors and homemade ice cream.

Three of us are judging. Kelly is our third member. She is a former Miss State Fair and lives in Ft. Wayne. We've judged with her before so it was fun to catch up. Tonight we'll watch, listen and score. Then one girl will spend a week living like royalty at the county fair. In rural Indiana, that means a lot!!

SUMMERTIME FOR TEACHERS

As long as I have been a teacher, every summer I have heard--"It must be nice to get paid and not have to work for a whole summer." These non-teachers always think we are getting paid for our summers. In actuality we get paid, but it is for hours we've already worked--they just save it for the summer.

This afternoon, though, I saw another side to that comment. The idea that teachers don't work in the summer. Barb and I met with two teachers. Both of them were organizing their rooms for next year. One teacher had been reading and planning for a long time. Today we helped him move furniture out, rearrange others and even move his desk to a corner in the back of the room. What fun we had and what a great new look! Can't wait to see the finished project.

The other teacher was in the middle of reorganizing her books. They were all over the floor. Three of her kiddos are coming in next week to help put their library together--an advantage of looping.

She had the best idea of a "teacher-sized" desk in one corner with cubby holes all around it for all sorts of writerly stuff. That is their writer's corner!

So, the next time you hear someone say teachers are lucky because they get their summers off---send them to me and I'll show them what teachers REALLY do in the summer!

SHIPSHEWANA SHOPPING

On Tuesday, a few of us decided to take off and do some shopping in Shipshewana. For you non-Hoosiers, Shipshe is a very laid back farming community full of many Amish families. You see hay stacks, buggies and more horses than cars...on usual days. However on Tuesday and Wednesday the flea market hits the town and so do hundreds of people out for a "good deal".

We left Churbusco at 8:00ish and drove an hour with lists in our hands or mind and money in our pockets. We were ready to hit those booths. We shopped for about three hours. We got plants, fresh veggies, luggage and sheets. Just when we were about to finish up, here it came. The biggest down pour you have ever seen. It just dumped out the rain. AND it kept coming and coming and coming.

Three of us had bought rain ponchos for $1.00 earlier in the day because it just looked like it could rain. Barb had brought her own umbrella, so she didn't need a poncho. We were not too proud to slip those babies on and wear them up and down the aisles in the gushing rain. We finally stopped and headed for the truck. There around it was a huge lake. We had to wade into it so we could leave.

Next on our agenda was eating. We headed for the Blue Gate. That is a restaurant known for it's Amish cooking. We tried their apple butter and peanut butter while we waited for our orders. After eating we had to stop by the bakery. Leaving at 2:30, still in the rain, we decided we had gotten everything we wanted, plus more, and had, had a wonderful day. Here is a glimpse of the Terrific Trio modeling the newest fashion in rain gear!!!

ATLANTA: DAY THREE

Today after eating breakfast at the hotel, we headed for downtown Atlanta. We jumped on MARTA at 8:30 and were at World of Coke by 9:00. We are BIG Coke fans, so we just LOVE this place!

Next, we walked to the CNN Center and signed up for the tour. Since we had an hour before our group left, we had lunch there in the food court. The tour showed the global headquarters and close ups of the news rooms.

For our last supper in Atlanta, we ate at a new restaurant across from our hotel: On The Border. It is a Mexican place with great seating outside. Our last outing was a 1 1/2 mile walk to Barnes & Noble for some new books.

Tomorrow we head back to the Hoosier State. Soon we'll be: Back Home Again in Indiana!!!

Click on the dark printed words and see their websites!!!

ATLANTA: DAY TWO--HAPPY B'DAY AMERICA

Happy Birthday America!
We started the day with 55,000 of our closest friends! Well, actually we ran with that many! It was the 39th running of the Peachtree Road Race (10K). It was 72 degrees at the beginning of the race (7:30 a.m.). We were in time group: 40,000-49,999. It was a great run!


Lunch was at The Varsity: the world's largest drive-in. As soon as you get close to the counter about ten servers shout: "What'll ya' have? What'll ya' have? What'll ya' have?"
I had a naked dog and The Big D had a slaw dog!

We ended the day at the Braves game. Our usher's name was Micheal. He said, "Hi, I'm your usher for the evening, Micheal." So we asked him to take our picture and his buddy came over to join us! The Braves won, so what more could we ask?

The flag was unrolled by soldiers just back from Iraq. What a great way to celebrate the 4th of July!

God Bless America!!!!

ATLANTA: DAY ONE

We left home this morning at 4:40. Murphy wasn't sure what was going on, but he wasn't happy about it. The cats couldn't wait for us to leave so they would have the place to themselves. We had rain all through Indiana, but when we hit Louisville it was sunny. We kept track of the gas prices as we went from state to state. I will report on that later.

We made it to Atlanta and the hotel in eleven hours. We arrived at 3:45 p.m. Our room is really a suite with a frig, microwave, living room and desk area. It is very close to a MARTA station and also the area where we will be lining up for the race in the morning (7:30).

Our first stop was the EXPO. At the expo you can buy anything you have ever dreamed of as a runner. There were loads of people since this was the last it would be open before the actual race. I purchased a new running out fit in my favorite melon color and another shirt that says: Sorry, I have to run (with my dog) and a scarf for Murphy that says: Will run for treats. I know he really can't run any more, but it will make him feel better in his old age!

The highlight of the day was meeting Darrell's cousin, Kelli. She lives in Atlanta and will also be running the race. She is in a different time group, so we are not sure we will get to actually see her tomorrow. We did some more shopping with her and then went out for a pasta supper. We spent the time catching up on her life and her family.

We have our running gear laid out, numbers on our shirts and even bought our MARTA cards to be able to get home after the 6.2 miles! Tomorrow is Day Two on this wonderful adventure. Stay tuned for more blogs.

THEN AND NOW

Each year when I plant my flowers, I wonder: Will they ever grow? The growth comes so slowly when I know I only have few weeks to enjoy these beautys. I plant them, water them and keep watching and watching. Here are pictures of a couple places in our backyard when I first planted them and how they look now!