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So my youngest brother, Brendan, finally got his own house. And after helping all of us (2 brothers and 2 sisters, plus my parents) move in and out of houses (some of us several times-- I'm talking to you Brad!) we are trying to give him at least a little hand in getting moved in himself. To that end, my parents and I spent a few hours carrying and cleaning in preparation for the big move-in.
The house is really cute and has a great backyard.
The layout is nice, and while there are several things he and his fiancee, Krisden, want to update and personalize, it's pretty nice inside too.
In fact the only think I don't like about it is that it is south Knoxville, and the rest of us are up here in the Fountain City area. But, the Henley street bridge was built for just this reason, so we hope to continue to see a lot of Brendan and Krisden, even if they are a few minutes further away.
And so far, Max the dog is not impressed. He is not a fan of hardwood floors, and doesn't yet get to spend the day outside in the yard, so he is reserving judgment for the time being!
So as many of you may know we are a greyhound family. We have three right now, and have had three more in the past. You can't get too far into the greyhound world without at least hearing about lure coursing. However, I had never actually seen it in person. So when I saw a blurb about a local lure coursing event in Powell, I knew I wanted to have a look.
It was just as cool as I had imagined, and I definitely recommend that you attend if you ever get the chance. This event was limited to sight hounds (cousins of the greyhound, like salukis, afghan hounds, whippets, and Rhodesian ridgebacks). There was a varying degree of expertise among the dogs. Some were driven, fast, and focused. Others liked to try a short cut or got off course altogether.
We learned that they are judged on 5 criteria: speed, follow, agility, endurance, and enthusiasm. It was very clear that both dogs and people were having a wonderful time. 
Another weekend, another softball tournament. Actually, it has been several weeks since we played and unfortunately, this weekend, it showed :(. For the first time since Megan donned a Thunder uniform, we went 0-4 in a tournament and went home early. Lately, between illness (over half the team has been out at one time or another in the past 3 weeks for flu, bronchitis, and even pneumonia),
weather (too much rain!) and middle school ball (4 of our girls play on 2 different teams), we have had very little time to get together and practice.
It wasn't all bad. The weather was nice! ;-)
For the past 36 years storytellers from all over have been meeting in Jonesborough, TN the first weekend in October for the National Storytelling Festival. When Megan was in Lower Elementary (2nd and 3rd grade), I traveled with her and several of her classmates to the Festival. Now it turns out that the Middle School goes too! And I'll tell you, middle schoolers have a MUCH longer attention span than elementary students!
If you have never been to the Storytelling Festival, I highly recommend trying it out sometime. Jonesborough is a cute little town with artsy shops and tempting restaurants. For the festival, large, circus-like tents are erected all around the downtown area. All day long, various storytellers practice their craft in these tents. Some of the tellers have been coming for ages, and for others it is their first visit. We saw a mix of our old favorites and some we hadn't seen before. Some tellers are very animated with music and singing, while others have a more subdued style that draws you in slowly and has you sitting on the edge of your seat to see what happens next. One interesting thing that I noticed this year is that there is a common format in many of the stories. Most of them have some sort of repeating element that allows the listener to participate in some cases, or in others, to be able to anticipate some of the plot twists. I imagine that this repetitive rhythm allows storytellers to be better able to remember the story by heart.
When you accompany children (even middle school aged children, it turns out), to the Storytelling Festival, a visit to the Lollipop Shop is a requirement. They have every kind of candy that you can ever imagine (and some kinds you can't). Some kids (reportedly) burn all their spending money here, much to their parents chagrin. The girls that went with me showed some restraint, although I think they learned that the BIG swirly lollipops really are too big to finish in one go (especially after you just ate an ice cream cone!)
The house is really cute and has a great backyard.
The layout is nice, and while there are several things he and his fiancee, Krisden, want to update and personalize, it's pretty nice inside too.
And so far, Max the dog is not impressed. He is not a fan of hardwood floors, and doesn't yet get to spend the day outside in the yard, so he is reserving judgment for the time being!
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