david

it's been a crazy week. but as some of you already might have read, we are approaching the end with david. so i'm off again this weekend to be with the family as we all go through this.

home again

i'm back home again. no need to write about the trip because tricia and fuzzy have great accounts on their blogs (and pictures).

thankfulness

chris and i made it to mississippi yesterday by noon. by all accounts yesterday was a good day. david was looking really good. he walked with a walker and even made it to the living room last night to watch a movie. it was a tear-jerker for the family, but the sentiments were nice.

we (chris and i, and the entire family) have had a wealth of emails, notes, cards, promises of prayers, packages, and gifts of all sorts from friends and family from all over. we are so appreciative to have such a wonderful family and great friends who support us and care so much about us and david's well-being. thank you.

slow columbia

tonight i went to the second official meeting of the columbia slow foods convivium. this is a group that is just starting up in columbia and apparently i am now one of the founding members! we met at gervais and vine and, over yummy wine and hors d'oeuvres, about 10 of us discussed the mission, some of our first projects, and our overall interest in this group. it was so fun! the purpose, for those who are not link-jumpers, is to increase knowledge about and interest in food that is of high quality and taste, environmentally sustainable, and manufactured and produced with social justice. most often this is seen in the form of local foods.

look for more information coming from me about this group in the future. our first event is going to be a turkey-tasting where we will pair a heritage, heirloom bird with a standard, grocery store bird and do blind tasting to see which is the best. even this vegetarian can tell you who the hands-down winner will be. the date of this event is yet to be determined.

sad news of the homefront

i see that some folks have already read tricia's latest news. so you may already know this. but david's prognosis has grown grim. thank God erica is already there and fuzzy will soon join them. chris and i head out next week. chris will be there for some time, but i'll have to come back and hold down the fort. your continued prayers for the family are so appreciated. and comments on tricia's blog mean a lot to her and us.

mrs. fix-it

this is something i wanted to post about a few days ago but didn't have time.

remember when i said our washing machine was leaking water out the side of the house? well, i fixed it this weekend!

(i can and will take credit for this, but in honesty it was a really simple solution. but still! i'm proud.)

prayers

i just wanted to request a few extra shout-outs to the big guy this week for those praying folks out there. chris's dad has not been doing too well lately and they could use all the extra thoughts and prayers anyone wants to give. tricia's (chris's mom) has been keeping a pretty good chronicle of what's been going on at her blog. you can check there to read the latest.

5th annual

we've set the date for the 5th annual reid christmas party. december 15th at 7:00 PM. i've sent my email invites out (chris's are still pending) so let me know if we've somehow accidentally left you off our list and you've not gotten one. we'd love to have you come!

i'm not sure if this was cool or scary

probably a little bit of both. but on the way home from work i drove next to a guy who was driving and playing the trumpet at the same time.

problem of the week

a few weeks ago when i was visiting my brother we had a discussion about how when you get older (especially, i'm finding, when you're a home-owner) every week there seems to be a problem. either it's car trouble, health problems, house issues, etc. so you get that problem fixed and think "yea, i'm glad that's done. now i don't have anything pressing to deal with this week." only then another problem pops up.

this week's problem was discovered while i was outside doing a little planting on sunday. i had thrown a load of laundry in the washer and headed outside to put some herbs in the ground. as i was making my plant bed next to the house, i heard the washer just on the other side of the wall switch into "draining mode." then, i saw water rushing out the side of the house, down the siding, and sudzing on the lawn right next to my newly planted rosemary bush. so now there's that. sigh.

children see. children do.

i was at a domestic voilence conference this past friday in charleston. this video was used as an opening to a presentation on the effects of DV on children. i thought it was so powerful not just in relation to violence. so i thought i'd share.