Farmers Market

Saturday morning at the Farmers Market

UP, Up and Away

The last day of school was Thursday and I knew it was going to be an emotionally charged day. It's always hard to say good-bye. This year, besides say so long to the fifth grade class, I also was sending good wishes off with several teachers who were being transferred to other campuses in our district. Topping the list was the fact that our principal, who had hired almost the entire staff in her 19 years as an administrator, had accepted a promotion and will be starting the new school year as an assistant superintendent. Easing the pain of losing her is the fact that our new principal is an awesome person with great leadership skills. The transition will be pretty seamless but it's still change.

So I took Friday off. I figured I would need it. I had been promising Terry that I would take him to see the new Pixar/Disney movie UP. I had seen all of the previews ... they looked, well, cute. I had heard from a few people that it started off sad. It was a kid's movie so how sad could it be, and for that matter, how good could it be? We met up with some friends at the local vintage theater downtown (I love this theater and would choose it over the 20 screen megaplex EVERY time!), loaded up with popcorn and sodas and settled in.

Surprise (and I shouldn't have been... it is Pixar after all)! This was such a good movie with an uplifting message, humor, humanity, pathos. From the short at the beginning to the last credit rolling, this is entertainment at it's best. If you think this is just a movie about a house being lifted away by balloons you would be so wrong. It is the life story of Carl Fredrickson (Ed Asner is the voice of Carl) starting with his wide-eyed hero worshipping youth. Carl meets his soul mate, the adventure loving Ellie and we see in a beautiful montage of scenes their life together. The story surprises the viewer constantly but it's also animation at it's perfection. There is one scene where two characters come to Carl's door. Sticking out the back of one of the character's shirts is his tag. You know that tag that people come behind you and tuck in for you? That is the kind of detail that you find in this movie. There are also some inside jokes. In the movie Russell, the little boy character talks about going to Fentons for ice cream with his dad. Fentons is our favorite ice cream spot and a place local Bay Area people esteem fondly. If you've never been, look up the address and take an adventure there.

Everyone in our group loved it - the moms, the younger children and even my teenage friend who went along. Terry thought it was better than Cars (high praise if you know him). Go see it... and then see it again. Oh, and bring some tissues just to be safe!

Fair Time

The fair auction was this weekend. This is always one of my favorite days because I love going to look at the farm animals. I also love watching Tommy and the boys discussing their strategies about bidding. This year it was him and Matt. But it has been different combinations of the boys over the years and someday I can see it being Terry and Andrew writing down the prices for him and letting him know who is coming up next. We sit on the same bench year after year and many of the same faces are there each year. It reminds me of a family reunion. People are joking and teasing each other. You get to see how kids have grown over the year. We have watched some of them grow up. One of the hogs that Tommy bought this year was raised by a kid named Cody. I remember Cody being about 9 years old and showing his first animal in the ring. This year when he came up afterwards to thank Tommy he had facial hair and this deep voice.

This was Andrew's first livestock auction and I took him for a spin through the livestock barn. His favorite animals were the cows and he mooed at each one of them (thoroughly charming the FFA girls who thought he was so cute). My favorite was the Angora Sheep. There was also a few llamas that were interesting to look at. I didn't get that close to them, though, because I have always heard that they will spit at you (of course, maybe I'm thinking of camels?). There was one "interesting" experience. We were walking by the cows and a man was there taking care of a cow and her calf. I was showing Andrew the baby and the guy asked me if I'd like to take a picture with the calf. Okay, truth is, I may have lived in the country for 27 years but I am and will always be a city girl. But I tip-toed into the stall (watching all the time where I was stepping) for the photo op. I managed to get in and out without stepping in anything. Looking at this picture it's hard to see who is the most uncomfortable... me ... Andrew ... or the calf!