The Seven of Us

These are pictures we took in August. I haven't mentioned much about the kids for a long time. Here's a little about them: Taylor- You can read her post (below). On Thursday night Taylor participated in the school's annual Dessert Concert. The concert is a fundraiser for the music department. I thought that the program was intesting and fun, not only because of the music, but because the audience chose the order of the program and provided some of the entertainment. As we entered the building, we were given programs. The programs listed the performer's names and the number they were peforming (there were 14). Fourteen of the programs that were handed out had a number on them. If a person's program had a number, the MC aked that person to pick the next performance. (So the "order" of the program didn't apply.) Audience members were also required to tell a joke or sing a song when they picked the next performance. I thought this was a great wa...

Hi Everyone! This is Taylor, Tay, T-Rae.....So I just wanted to let everyone know what I've been up to lately..... 1) I got a miracle...the newest iPod touch. Buy one. It's well worth the price! 2) Volleyball was done a few weeks ago....I played A team (Varsity). We did ok, it's been a good experience. 3) School's been keeping me on track. Last quarter I was on superintendent's honor roll. 4) I like the snow. Yes, I said I like it....It feels warm. 5) Rain, Thunder, Lightening...that's my thing. The feel, taste, smell....the risk. 6) Call me crazy, but at least crazy people know they're crazy. 7) I have more friends than I thought. 8) The highschoolers are not crazy. just stupid. 9) Sleep is good; nap alot. 10) Always put the tredmill on high speed. You run 1/2 mile in less then 2min.

Jared never gets any blog coverage, so today I'll show you what he has been working on: Our bathroom. This bathroom is in the basement. When we moved here 8 years ago it was just a chunk of concrete with a toilet (not much prettier than a prison cell). Today it's still not very pretty, but it's much more funtional and improving rapidly. About a month ago we tore down what was left of the 50 year-old drywall and the original studs. Since then Jared has re-studded the bathroom, added framing for a closet in the girls' room, which is adjacent to the bathroom, framed a linen closet for me (yay), and consulted with plumbers. He and Caleb have been working on the shower area for about 10 days. The first time the plumbers came they didn't mention that we would need to even out the floor surrounding the drain where the shower will be. (Fifty years ago people just used the floor drain, which was sloped, for their shower drain.) So we needed to cut a rectangle (rou...

Isaac being himself (Winding up rather than down as he became more tired. It's a trait most of our kids share.) in Atlanta. This picture is too dark. It's a waterfall that's across the road from my home. In high school I liked going here to think and to write. Taking my kids there wasn't quite the same, but they enjoyed seeing it. Riding the carousel at Martha's Dandee Creme in Queensbury. Stopping there was a tradition when I was in high school. Driving by it every Sunday as the tourists lined up to get their cones was a little tough sometimes. I learned to look the other way. Isaac and McKenna L to R: Me, McKenna & Isaac, my brother Conor, my mom (Bonnie), Corbin, my dad (Dave), and my cousins, Lauren Droddy and Rena (Droddy) with her husband Mark.

This is Corbin with my brother Conor at Rogers Rock Park on Lake George. McKenna and Isaac walking on my parents' driveway The flower garden my mom planted along the edge of her lawn.

I've been interested in Civil Rights since I was young. One of my favorite books was Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor. The book tells the story of a black family who were sharecroppers in Mississippi during the early 1920s and 1930s. As a kid, and even as an adult, I am shocked by what the family and their neighbors endured at the hands of their "better" white "neighbors". All of my paternal ancestors are from the south (North Carolina & Louisiana), and at the age of thirteen I was also shocked to hear my favorite great-aunt refer to people of other colors and ethnicities really degradingly. And as a nine or ten year-old Girl Scout I was really interested to learn about female sufferagists on a field trip to the National Women's Hall of Fame in New York. So when I read this headline on the msn.com home page last week I was saddened: "Louisiana Judge Denies Marriage License to Interracial Couple." The judge's arguement...

McKenna and Isaac on the boulder in my padre's front yard.