Remember this, child....

Miles:  Well, well, well....

Me:  That's a deep subject.

Miles:  Wait, what??

Me:  Get it??  Wells are deep....?

Miles (chuckling slightly): You're hilarious.  There's going to come a time, Mom, when I don't think you're funny anymore, so I need to remember this.

Me:  Exactly!


DOCUMENTED!!

College town

So far one of the best things about living in our old college town is getting to see our old college friends!  (Not that they're OLD, really... I mean there are some gray beards involved these days.... but the girls are definitely NOT old).

We've timed it just right because a lot of our friends now have kids that are looking at colleges.... so they come for campus visits and we get to see them!

Several weeks ago our friend Catrin came to town to pick up her freshman daughter on the same weekend that a mutual friend came for a campus visit with his son... so we gathered up some local alumni and made a mini reunion of it.  Five Grover families all gathered at the coffee shop to hear Treebeard Brown play, which was loud, but fun!

For some reason we only got 1 representative per family in this picture.    So thankful for the opportunity to see these not-old friends!

Confused Mom again

Drove down to Pittburgh for what I thought was Jinna’s first appointment with a new endocrinologist.  We were half-way through the appointment before I realized the doctor was actually an orthopedist.  She must have thought my answer to “what prompted your visit today” on the form was rather strange.

Dreschers visit... just in time

In what would turn out to be our last big hurrah before the COVID-19 shut-down, 67% of the Dreschers came to visit for the weekend.  Ellie had a campus visit planned and we all had fun touring around the college and town.

 We ate in the dining hall and the kids thought it was so awesome that they could whatever they wanted!  At one point Sage had in front of her Fruit Loops, Fruit punch and a Fruit-topped ice cream cone.... Fruit=healthy!

The kids also enjoyed pal-ing around together... riding bikes around town, playing hide-and-seek, and, for a short time before I found them and told them to get down, playing on the roof of the garage:

Other highlights included bowling, going to "Crepe Fest" at the coffee shop, and attending a few of the college events...

Unfortunately, in the midst of all this news was coming in rapidly from the governing forces alerting us that things were being shut down.

At the end of the lip-sync concert the students all simultaneously checked their phones and found a message telling them that classes were going all online...

Karin's school was being told to close, too, so they had to leave a few hours early so she could get back to manage the situation.

We were glad for the time we had with them!

Movie set

In stark contrast to the quietness which has fallen over the town the last couple of weeks, there was a time in the not-too-distant past when Broad Street was a hub-bub of more activity than usual as it was the setting for a Tri-Star film!

Over a span of a few days the movie production company brought in "Christmas" and overnight our town was re-decorated for that magical time of year... in February.  They even brought in loads of Christmas trees and set up a whole Tree Lot.

The night of the filming ended up being snowy (which the producers had been hoping for) and very very cold (which no one had probably been hoping for), so we walked over to check it out, but didn't stay outside very long.  We ducked in and out of the coffee shop getting little bits of the movie news and looking for glimpses of the "stars."

It was fun to see all the excitement!

....And now we all are on sabbatical

Strange days these ones have been, with everyone under stay-at-home orders.  This COVID-19 virus has struck enough fear into the hearts of the government that all non-essential activities have ceased.  How weird, and quiet, our town and campus now are.

In some ways it's a forced rest -- like our sabbaticals have been -- and in some ways it's more stressful than normal -- also like our sabbaticals have been.

So we hunker down and see what the Lord is teaching us in this season.... More time for listening, more time for family, more time for cooking and baking, more time for art projects, more time for Zoom calls.  And, happily for me, more time for home projects.  :)