April 19, 2011 7:04 p.m.

Sorry to leave you hanging, friends, really, I am.  But this past week was anything but typical.  There were so many different things going on; we have been out of our routine, and unfortunately the first thing to go was my bloggy life.  I hope you don’t feel too neglected.

Thank you to Linda, and anybody else who was concerned about our well-being over the past week, especially as my prior post was so foreboding.  Sweet Girl, I am happy and thankful to report, is completely back to her normal healthy self, and has been for several days now.  So much so, that she happily went swimming yesterday for the second time this season.

Besides, that, Monday the 11th was Chips’  11th birthday!  He had a nice, quiet day at home with us.    His birthday was a bit unusual in that the celebrating part of the day was long in coming.  We always wait for Self-Reliant Man to arrive home from work before celebrating anyone’s birthday, however Self-Reliant Man was slow in getting home that day.

It went something like this: in the morning, he drove his silver car to work, except he got a third of the way there and the car started acting up, so he drove back home and instead took his red car to work.  After work, he began the drive home except the red car turned out to have a problem and had to be driven into a side street and parked because it never would have made it all the way home.  This was when history was made, for Self-Reliant Man determined that he would not be able to fix his car on the side of the road and that he would actually need a tow!  This is the first time this has happened in all the near 17 years we have been married, ladies and gentlemen.  Usually Self-Reliant Man is able to fix his car well enough on the fly to get it home, even if it requires a quick trip or two to the auto parts store in the process.  But he knew that type of miracle wasn’t going to happen this time, so Self-Reliant Man called a tow truck.  Did you hear that, everybody?  SELF-RELIANT MAN CALLED A TOW TRUCK!  Whew.  Got that off my chest.  Here is a photo from that eventful evening.

This is the silver car, that could not make it to work in the morning.

And this is the red car that could not make it home in the evening.

These are the two children who are enjoying every minute of the experience, as well as the husband who is not enjoying the experience. 

Any questions?  Yes, we recovered from the history-making day, and yes, Chips eventually had a pleasant evening celebrating his birthday with cake and presents.

Other highlights from the week included…

Another Science Day at our house, this time to learn all about BLOOD!  That is our wonderful teacher holding up a giant model of a red blood cell. 

Here was our first brave participant in the blood typing part of the lesson.  What is your blood type?  Do you know?

Speaking of science, here are Chips’ models of hydrocarbon molecules.  I know I didn’t know what a hydrocarbon molecule was in sixth grade.  But then, there are a lot of things in the Calvert Sixth Grade course that I never had that early in my education.

Finally, best of all, is the next photo…

Here is a peaceful moment of team work between Sweet Girl and Chips, folding the laundry together.  This was too sweet to miss with the camera (although it isn’t that rare, this level of mutual cooperation certainly isn’t an everyday occurrence, you know what I mean?)

So, bloggy friends, things are moving along pretty well at our home.

So far this week, other opportunities have included:

1. Both children did a violin performance for a very elderly woman who is in hospice care, the mother of our neighbor, and the actual owner of the violin that is being loaned to Chips.  I have to say that, although she was largely unable to speak, this lady thoroughly enjoyed the music!

AND

2. Today and tomorrow the children are taking the Iowa Test of Basic Skills.  They actually eagerly anticipate the “Iowas” and consider these days to be “free days”.  Go figure.  I am glad that tests don’t make them nervous.

AND

3. Today we paid a visit to a luthier to have an adjustment made to the violin loaned to us in this post.  Nothing serious, just an error in setup on the part of the violin shop it visited last (way up north of here in Vermont).   This is a man in his seventies, who supports himself staying very busy in his in-home shop where he doctors string instrument such as violas, violins, cellos, and basses.  A neat short documentary about him is here.  It was neat visiting him today, after seeing him in this video. 

Well, I am truly humbled if you made it this far in this post, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.