Sunday, September 30, 2012

Schooled


It's hard to believe that it is fall already, but you don't have to look at the calendar to figure that out!  The leaves are quickly changing, the mornings are brisk, the sky is clear blue, and there are apples and pumpkins right and left.  And, the best way you know it is fall is that the Summers have their falls display up!  We are big fall lovers...LITERALLY.  We began dating in the fall FIVE years ago, and just today, we relived our first date at Ultimate Ice Cream where I wooed Sam with my talk of high school heavy metal music, and he wooed me with his talk of college debauchery.  Somehow it just worked...he met me the next evening for a viewing of the Montford Park Players, Much Ado About Nothing.  He was actually super worried about meeting me because he thought I was going with two guys, John and Christian.  Nevertheless, he showed up and found out that Christian was a girl, and here we are today:  FIVE years later...and so is Ultimate Ice Cream-YUM!  Ok, so a little walk down memory lane.  There is something about the fall that just makes you nostalgic.  Apple cinnamon doughnuts anyone?


Since the last time we posted, I finished 2 summer online classes and got accepted to graduate school.  So, back to school for me!  I am attending Western Carolina's Communication Science Disorders program full- time, and I am loving it so far!  I am learning so much, and the professors are so welcoming.  I even enjoy doing the school work (dork).  The toughest part for me is the drive;  it seems to get longer and longer.  Luckily, I hooked up with a carpool three days a week which helps on gas, makes the time go by faster, and gives me a chance to study.  I am currently enrolled in a phonetics course which teaches me IPA; Introduction to Audiology which teaches me about the anatomy of the ear, disorders, and how to perform hearing tests for hearing loss; Fluency Disorders which teaches me about stuttering assessment, diagnosis, and treatment; and Articulation and Phonology which teaches me about errors in articulation and phonological process theory, assessment and approaches to treatment.  I'm really geekin' out over it and come home with a new interesting tidbit daily.  For example, did you know that the animal that has an ear that most closely resembles a human's ear both anatomically and functionally is a chinchilla?  I also have to say that I have an AMAZING husband that affords me this opportunity and totally supports me...he also occasionally serves as my guinea pig (switchin' gears from chinchillas) and lets me probe his ears and give him oral peripheral exams.  Yay!

My other great accomplishments for the summer were finishing the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo trilogy which I totally recommend if you like strong female characters, mystery, and don't mind a little gore and edginess.  It is totally something I wouldn't have typically went for, but I wound up loving it!  I also did tons of canning and preserving of our beautiful, bountiful garden this year.  This is the first year I have been confident in the ability to use the pressure canner without being under the supervision of someone more seasoned (AKA the moms).  In the Summers' pantry are:  green beans, soup, marinara sauce, salsa, ketchup, barbeque sauce, and peach butter.  In the freezer are:  loaves of zucchini bread, several squash casseroles, zucchini lasagna, sugar snap peas, kale, blackberry jam, and green peppers.  While the gardening season seems to wear on me by late summer, I sure do love the taste of summer throughout the winter time!  I am hoping to also do something with pumpkins and apples, time and energy allowing of course.

To top the summer off, Sam and I made a short trip to Charleston to stay at a bed and breakfast we got a Groupon for.  It was really nice!  We really did just relax on this trip, going to the beach during the day and piggin' out on good food at night.  Funny story- I will call it Sam's chocolate cake hissy fit:  So we went to a restaurant the first night we were there, and our waitress recommended a place for dessert.  Well, since we were currently partaking in dessert, we decided we would go to this place the following night.  All day Sam salivated over a big piece of chocolate cake, saying how he was going to eat the whole piece over and over again.  Well, we arrive at this place the next evening after walking around post dinner, and we see that the pieces are HUGE.  I suggest that we share a piece, and Sam looked at me like he was insulted.  He was actually mad.  I finally convince him to share a piece of cake with me, and if he wants more, he can get another piece afterwards.  Well, he didn't take but two bites, and he said he couldn't eat anymore and started whining that he was sooooo full after all that!  Hurumph!    Our one excursion was a paddle boarding tour around an estuary.  We learned about oysters and other animals in inlets and got to practice our balancing skills.  Neither one of us fell in!  It was fun, and I do believe we would do it again.



In other news, my mom got a puppy for her birthday.  He is a little shi tzu puppy named Augustus Theodore Plemmons, Gus for short and more suited to his actual size, all four pounds of him.  He is lively and will bite anything in his path!  He is pretty cute, though, and fun to play with.  We have only briefly introduced him to Delilah and Weezy seeing as how they are literally 3 times larger than him and much scarier!  Maybe when he is a little older and not so rambunctious and wearing safety goggles will we give them a proper introduction.  My "little" brother also made it into town for a visit.  We had a good time and enjoyed seeing him.  Among the things that we did while he was here were hiking, bowling, and badminton.  I also cooked him an Indian meal to show off my cooking skills from my class last fall.


Speaking of badminton.  I don't know why we waited so long into the summer to bring it out, but it is ON at the Summers' household.  Badminton everyday rain or shine.  It is really a fierce competition.  I don't know what the actual score is, but we have played nearly everyday since late July.  We tied it up tonight.  We'll report in on the next blog to let you know the official score...

 Ok, time for an update from Mountaineer Sam.  Don't you think it's fitting that I went to school where the mascot was a Mountaineer and now the wife's going to a school where the mascot is a cat?  I sure do.  Well, summer is over.  The garden was pretty successful.  Except for the pumpkins.  That's my goal for next year.  I did score some seeds from the 2012 Mountain State Fair #1 award winning giant pumpkin so expect big things.  Literally.  One other mistake I made was fertilizing newly sowed grass.  Killed it.  The crab grass sure survived though.  My summer Summers genealogy trip this year included another trip to Iredell County, where my family on both mom and dad's side have our roots.  Fortunately, those roots don't run into each other if you know what I mean.  We found the grave of my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, John Summers, who moved to Iredell after fighting in the Revolutionary War with his father.  It was a pretty neat trip.  What next for Mountaineer Sam now that the garden's done?  Well, I hope to spend a few more days sittin' on the back porch, listening to records, and carvin' before it gets too cold.  Oh, that reminds me, we went to Heritage Day at Western Carolina University this weekend where I learned about hide tanning.  Other than that, I don't know what I'll get into this fall.  Hopefully a caramel apple or two while I help the wife with her flashcards, and riggin' up a target for my throwin' hatchet.  Oh, and we're having a Halloween party. Stay tuned for the deets. 

I'll leave you with a picture of the garden and the cool "thing" I built using locust posts and an old window from our house.  Did I already post this?  Oh well.



Into the fall season we go.  I study best with a cat or two on my lap.  Go Catamounts!  We wish everyone the best.  Get out there and enjoy the leaves and pretty weather.  Forecaster Sam predicts a bad winter:  2 weeks of snow due to the foggy mornings in August, the wooly worms, and the acorn crop!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

A Mid Summers' Night Dream


So here we are...amidst the blazing hot days of the Summers:  no alarm clocks,  no concept of what day of the week it is...  It is pretty great.  However, we do a pretty good job of filling our time.  Sam has a garden to tend to and other things of the outside ilk.  I am taking two summer classes which keeps me pretty engrossed in books and reading as well as tethered to a computer.  I was going to take three classes, but upon reading a more detailed description of one of my classes, The Science of Hearing, I discovered it was math and science intensive (a.k.a. physics), and I knew that it would take a lot of my time as I do not think with that part of my brain very often.  I am getting along in that class, though.  The other class is Language Acquisition, and it is more up my alley...read words instead of math problems and actually understand the content. 

As I said, I have to keep a pretty close proximity to a computer because my classes meet online.  Consequently, we had a short window open at the beginning of the summer for a road trip.  We traveled up north up the east coast and did a "tour of brothers."  We set out at 3:45 am and commenced our 14 hour trek up to Connecticut.  It was a rather brutal drive, but being up that far, we had the bulk of the journey behind us; the trip back would be more segmented.  We visited my oldest brother, Scott, and his family, who live in Granby.  While there, we went for a 12 mi. bike ride (which was painful to the once a year bike riders), got to see a soccer game, and visited Mark Twain's House in Hartford.  From there we journeyed to Boston, MA.  I will let Sam take this part of the trip.  He is the history buff and can better tell of the sights we saw there.

So here we go.  Hang on to your breeches!

First up is Mark Twain's Hartford, Connecticut bungalow.  I believe it cost a pretty penny at the time.  To give you an idea of how much, it would be today's equivalent of twenty or so MILLION dollars.  Very neat house.

 While there, I was able to obtain photographic proof that I am, indeed, Uncle Sam:

 Next up, was Boston.  It all started with the Boston Tea Party.  Not on the Liberty Trail.  Had to hike a long way to get there.  Here's why it's not on the Trail, there's nothing there except a marker.  They should have had something cool like a "Throw your own box of tea in the sea" activity.
 Here I am on the Trail of Liberty...
 One of the most interesting stops on the Trail was the Grainery Burial Ground.  Resting place of Paul Revere, Sam Adams, victims of the Boston Massacre, and believe it or not, the real MOTHER GOOSE!

 Here's Kellie talking to a donkey.  Telling him how much fun she's having.
 This is the old Corner Bookstore.  I believe the oldest building in Boston, but I may be wrong.  Now a Chipotle Restaurant.  So lame. 
 This is the site of the Boston Massacre.
 Inside was a sweet museum with a vial of tea from the Boston Tea Party!
 Also a cool musket found at Bunker Hill.
 We got a little hungry so we stopped for Lobster Mac and Cheese!

 We then needed dessert so while on that quest we ran into the "Connah Store".  Oh those Bostonians and their accents!  Hilarious.
 We waded through the tourists at the famous Mike's Pastry and got a sweet cannoli.
 Then I went to see if Paul Revere was home so I could tell him the British were coming...and they don't like pastries!
 But I sure do!
 I found Paul Revere!
 This is the Old North Church where the "one if by land, two if by sea" phrase really took place!
 Here I am firing cannon at the British tyrants!
 The real "captain" of our voyage.  And by voyage, I mean marriage.
 Bunker Hill, where the Americans were defeated only because they ran out of ammunition.  Oh, and while this is where the battle took place, it's not really called Bunker Hill.  The action took place on Breed's Hill, the mis-naming was because Bunker Hill was the original objective, but I believed the Patriots found the defenses on Breed's Hill more preferable.
 Smoochin'!
 Havin' some New England clam chowdah!
 Where everybody knows your name...
 Hey Norm!  Cheers!
 What a pretty little lady.
 Garden roofs?  What?
 No words needed...


 The next day we drove to Harvard, where Kellie "pahked the cah on Havad Yahd!"  Oh those Bostonians and their accents.
 Where Kellie's really gettin' her education...

 Let's have a picnic on Harvard Square.
 Let's go to the Sam Adam's Brewing tour.
 Let's stop by Baltimore on our way to Washington D.C.  What's going on in the Inner Harbor?  Tall Ships?  War of 1812 Bicentennial?  Yes Please.
 We were so hungry for crab cakes....
 The wife obliged me to a stop at Manassas Battle Ground on our way to D.C.  Here I am with Stonewall Jackson.  Look at me standing like a stonewall.
 Me and the Confederate cannon line.
 Wonder what she's thinking?
 Check out this bayonet that was found on the battlefield, growing into a root many years after the battle.
 Ahhhh....
 In D.C. we went to the American History Museum.  Saw one of Abe Lincoln's guns.  It was appropriate because I was reading "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Killer" at the time, which was a great read.
One of Sam Houston's rifles.  It was awesome because it had a cartridge that held five bullets.  Remember the Alamo!

 Above is Kellie and the real Kermit the Frog.  I think it's mean that they keep him in a glass box.
Here she is with Dorothy's Red Slippers!

At the Washington Monument.  Thumbs up.

 Thumbs up for me too!
 Went to the Hershhorn Art Museum.  Actually pretty cool.  Interactive art!
 Check out our original art in an elevator!
 And they we returned home.  To one wall of a new bathroom.  I've been learning a good deal about construction.  It now was four walls, a roof, and looks way different.  More to come...


...and continue Kellie....
From Boston, we drove to Kennett Square, P.A., to visit my next to the oldest brother and his family.  We played with the three nieces, visited a potato chip factory, and went kayaking.  From there, we made our way to Baltimore where we were lucky enough to be there during a Centennial Celebration in which they had big ships from around the world and the Blue Angels in the harbor.  It was pretty neato.  We grabbed ourselves a crab cake and then drove down to Mannassas to behold the battlefield (for Sam).  And finally, we arrived in Arlington, V.A., to visit the 3rd and youngest brother.  While in Arlington, we visited some Smithsonian museums, went to a big market, visited 2 cupcake shops (one was DC Cupcakes in Georgetown, check out their show) and 3 vineyards.  We had a fun time for sure.  We finally made our way back down to the North Cack on day 11.  The next day my classes began and returned home to a 2nd bathroom being built onto our house. 

Between everything mentioned above, we find some time for other activities which include but are not limited to (since we are so unpredictable): celebrating our 3 year anniversary, cooking (I'm trying to keep up with what is coming out of the garden!), creating a wine bottle border for the herb garden (if you would like to contribute, drink some wine!) softball, yard games, viewing an outdoor rendition of A Midsummer Night's Dream, DDR, reading, petting/brushing cats, whitewater rafting, and hiking...who knows what the rest of the summer will bring! 



Keep it cool, ya'll.  The AC is flowin' full blast!  If you are looking for fun indoor activities, we suggest a mustache dance-off!