Autumn in Grape Country

This past weekend we headed to North East, PA to visit Steve's mom. While we were there, we got to see a grape picker in action. Of course this was commonplace for Steve and his mom but Stevie, Abby and I enjoyed seeing it. It was funny how the leaves of the grapevines were yellowed and shriveled but there were still beautiful clusters of grapes hanging on the vines. In fact, some places there were no leaves at all and yet there were large clusters hanging from the bare vines. The smell in the air was wonderful. I think it was primarily the grapes we were smelling but there were loaded apple orchards too. It was a beautiful fall day and we had a nice, relaxing visit with Steve's mom. Aunt Gladys came over too and of course we had to play some games. Unfortunately, I had a headache and missed out on some of them.





Here are a couple more pictures. One is the grape picker and the other is just some of the beautiful countryside.

The Great Cookie Debate

Well,today was the great cookie debate at SWA. The two candidates, Cocoa and Chunky, expressed their views on eating cookie dough, cookie economics, cookies in the military, and cookies- a right or a responsability. Cocoa is a chocolate cookie with white chips, Chunky is a normal chocolate chip cookie.


Stevie had his first experience in politics today, as he was the spokesman for the "Love at First Bite" party that nominated Cocoa. His classmate Stephen Fish spoke for the McFlamen Party that supports Chunky. One highlight of the debate was when Stevie told of Cocoa's war experience as a member of the Cookie Marines fighting radical food. (I do wonder what kind of food is radical. Sauerkraut? Dragon eyes? Durian? Gummy worms?) Cocoa lost his leg fighting a suicide bomber. Cookies gave him the strength to go on so he wants every soldier to have the opportunity to eat Cocoa cookies. Another highlight was when Stevie decried sending millions of dollars overseas to import cookies. He also recommended dunking milk in your cookies. (The other side actually agreed with that stand.)



Stevie really did quite well and we were proud of him. Even Abby admitted he did a good job. The polls show that the debate changed a lot of minds, but they also reveal an election too close to call. Stay tuned. On November 4, we will carry the very important news of who won the Great Cookie Election. May the best cookie win!

School Pictures

Well, today was picture day. I decided that since our enrollment is down, I would be able to get pictures of the entire school in one day . . . and I would have if my camera batteries and charger had worked properly. I got a new camera this summer and it takes special batteries. I bought two batteries and a charger so that I wouldn't have the kind of problem that I had today. I was down to the last class and the battery went dead. No problem! Just put the other battery in and keep on going. Wrong! Even though the charger said that the battery was charged, it was not. After two hours, it still was not charged. AAAAAUUUUUGGGHHH! I did get the school camera and finish up the kids--except for one who had put blue highlighter on his lips and couldn't get it off and another whose picture, by no fault of her own, came up missing amidst the battery issues. I still need some pictures of the faculty and staff but I will try to get those this week--if I can get my camera to work. There are a couple of pics that I want to retake but I was happy with the majority of the pictures. Some of them are better than others but I'm still learning--and having lots of fun. I'll try to post a few of the pics that I especially liked. I don't know if I'll have sucess on this computer with dial-up but if not, I'll get them up later when I have a better connection.

Fall is Here!

Well, nothing much is happening. School is keeping all of us busy. The weather is changing. I can't wait until the leaves start turning. I've heard that we are to have an exceptionally beautiful fall this year. I hope that's the case. I want to get outside with my camera and capture the brilliance of fall. It's one of the few things that I missed while in Taiwan. Here are a couple of pics that I snapped earlier this year. One of them was taken from the school parking lot looking across Newgarden Ave. I wondered if the rays of sun could be captured on film--they were. I was happy with how it turned out. The other one was taken at the park near our house. I love the effect of the reflections in the water. I am hoping to get one in the fall with all the colored leaves. Maybe I can capture one in winter and spring too. I could frame them as a set. That would be cool. Well, I need to get a few things done before the VP debate. Can't miss that! As I heard on the radio today . . . it's bound to be the most exciting thing about the entire election.