Searching for Meaning

 It was a beautiful day and Seattle U is always beautiful in the spring, we hear. Diane played her violin from the 3rd floor balcony in Piggott while authors signed books and everyone mingled. But we were most thrilled because she decided to come home early since she was a bit over-peopled and wanted some quiet and peace with us.

Waiting for Her Author

The keeper was off again to the SU Bookfest where she was supposed to be sitting at authors' famous feet. So far we hear that she sat at the book signing table chatting with a hundred favorite friends who were all passing by.  She offered  to sign  all of their books.  Eventually she caught up with her author, Lesley Hazelton, who is a very fascinating woman indeed!

Anna's Hummingbirds

We have a hummingbird family. They do not fear us. But they usually approach the feeders individually, and as the feeders need refreshing they follow the keeper " tsk" tsking and strafing her until she gets the message.  Tonight one of the feeders was on the ground.  There was strafing and tsking till the keeper made it right. Then three of them showed up a once.  We have never seen three before, but they stayed until it became too dark. We think they are all female because the males have rosy Lenten head and throats. And these were green. We wonder where the little nests are. We hope they all keep coming back because they are delightful and beautiful, and very hard to capture with a slow camera.

A Not So Tidy Week or Mind

The keeper warned us on Sunday that we would be beginning a very crazy week. She knows how much we like order. Well, it began today. We all got up early on a day off. We asked her what it was about.  She said that she had committed to way too many activities in her free time. We watched her move with lightning like speed, thanks to multiple cups of Italian Roast, through a very long list of phone calls.

First, she tried to make sense of what she was teaching her SU students tomorrow about public leadership and private boundaries. Then there was something for the Holy Conversation group.  Then she started throwing books and papers all over.  She has two talks in two days. One she has given before. It is ready ( mostly). The one she fretted about is being born now for Wednesday.

We finally told her to go work out at the gym because she needed to burn her anxiety off and take it down a few notches. Besides it was first Monday and they serve free pizza.  She left and came home calmer with a reward---a plate piled high with good pizza. The talk is still not finished, but the pizza made her happy and sleepy. There's always tomorrow afternoon.

More Gifts

The children presented the story of creation for their parents.

They all posed for the graduation photo.

 Maria created beautiful cross stitch panels for the teachers.

Jose created all kinds of artwork for his children.

Back to Bellevue

Another early morning for us. She fed us and left us for the final parenting class in Bellevue. We understand that in this session the parents announce their discerned charisms to the group, and how they intend to use them for the good of the community. She told us that they announced many gifts----sewing,embroidery, gourmet cooking, bookkeeping, organization and administration, carpentry, gardening, art and painting, generosity, parenting, working with children, music, and way way more! At the end there was a graduation ceremony, with photos and certificates and a very delicious fiesta!

Guess Where She Went

We began the new month with glee. It's staying lighter later and is even warming up a bit. But instead of staying home to enjoy these phenomena with us, she headed out yet again. We stayed behind to guard the cottage. Alice showed her disappointment by throwing up all over the clean rug and I slept on top of the laptop keyboard which she had forgotten to shut down and close. We hope you didn't get any spam from us.