Freedom

Habibti loves looking out the window on car trips.

Rays

The setting sun the other night was actually surrounded in rays of light. I always thought that rays around the sun were just a stylized depiction, but apparently it actually happens sometimes!

Skyline

In the summer of 2013, Benjamin and I had a chance to see New York while traveling to my cousin's wedding. The skyline from the Empire State Building is pretty delightful, as advertised.

Vegetables

Saturday vegetable co-op.

...and then lunch

I discovered a park near my school where I can eat lunch and regroup for the afternoon. It was delightful.

A study in breakfast

I love having a usable patio now that the weather is changing!

Success-like

I went to a painting place with some friends a few months ago. My painting may have had a mass-produced quality, since everyone in the room was painting the same thing, but it was still a lot of fun to do.

Opportunity

Route 66

Part of our road trip to Colorado this summer was along the famed Route 66. 

It was pretty fast-paced and high-tech.

Unimpressed

Habibti is deeply unimpressed with commemorative lazy morning selfies.

Screened

Rebecca took some great pictures this weekend when we put up a screen on our patio. Now we can leave the patio doors open - just in time for fall weather!

Then and Now

 My desk is definitely more covered in papers all the time now that I'm an administrator, even though I try to clear it off each day before I leave for the day.

Desk in my classroom last year - enjoy the bright green wall!

Desk in my office this fall - looking only mildly disastrous and depersonalized.

Snuggly

The weather forecast claims that the summer temperatures are supposed to break tomorrow! Here's to cooler fall weather and snuggling under blankets - I hope.

Childhood

Lunar

Unsurprisingly, the camera on my phone is not very good at taking pictures at night. The full moon last night was amazing though, and I gave it a shot (ha! a pun!) anyway.

Kitchen

The view from my kitchen window... I may really like teapots.

Morning

I fell asleep at 6:30 yesterday, so I woke up very refreshed and ready to take Habibti on a sunrise walk this morning.

Sunshine

Sunflowers are always so cheerful.

Hammock

The view from the hammock at my uncle's in Colorado this summer.

Rough

Habibti has a pretty rough life.

Not pictured - snacks and walks

Pie

Rebecca and I went to the Bishop Arts District's Pie Emporium today. Since it is now September, they have reintroduced their fall pies - including their Cloud 9 caramel meringue pie. It was a delicious and delightful time.

Photo credit: Rebecca

Vegetables

We have started getting our vegetables from a produce co-op. Every Saturday, we pick up two baskets of fruit and veggies. The best part is that each week's produce is a surprise. This week we got prickly pear fruits, among other items.

Sky

The sky was amazing on the drive home yesterday evening. Definitely an acceptable prelude to a three day weekend.

Real

I spent most of yesterday moving my office to the front of the school, so that I can be more accessible to students. I also finally managed to organize the many stacks of paper that were starting to become ridiculous. My transition from teacher to college counselor is finally starting to feel more real.

Cliff Palace

This summer, we visited Mesa Verde National Park, which has some amazing ancestral Puebloan ruins.

Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde

Predictable

There is actually more to my life than produce and the noble hound, but it is primarily composed of running around during the school day and entering a lot of information into a computer, which does not make for a particularly engaging picture.

Best

Sometimes coming home to a welcoming, fuzzy doggy is just the best thing you could possibly do.

Sustanence

The husband makes excellent hamburgers.

Rest

Safe

Habibti's dachshund heritage shows through in her love of burrowing in blankets. 

Silhouette

Mackinac Island sunset

Calm

Today is the first day of school for my campus. This is my first year as an administrator, and there is still a lot that needs to be accomplished. I am hoping that everything goes smoothly and calmly, like this untroubled cloud.

Untroubled cloud (Not pictured, the brewing thunderstorm underneath.)

Habibti

The newest member of our family fits in very well, as she likes snuggling under fuzzy blankets and reading good books. She inveigled herself into our household two years ago and has provided endless entertainment since then. Also, she is quite certain she's people.

I may have added the book for this shot, but the rest is completely un-posed...

Purple

We have joined a vegetable cult, I mean co-op, which means that we often get unusual produce in our weekly basket. I take a lot of pictures of vegetables now.

A brief retrospective

Where have I been for the last two years, you might reasonably ask? (Yes you, imaginary person still subscribed to this blog). Living life in all its dailiness. We are still in Texas. Still teaching (well, I'm an administrator this year, but close enough). Still using an excessive number of parenthetical asides. We may have acquired a dachshund by accident - someday we'll get a real dog to keep her company.

Pictured: dailiness

Abandoned

*Taps gently on blog...* *Coughs and dies as dust billows up from its undisturbed surface.* Oh, hello there, internet, I was just looking for a picture and found this blog that I used to update regularly. Blogging looks like fun. Maybe I'll give it another go.

Hovenweep National Monument - Utah. Or this blog after years of neglect. It's hard to tell.